Do You Remember? II
by Mahanny
Summary: I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning · Part II of Do You Remember?
1. Chapter 1

**Part I:** **s/11559284/1/Do-You-Remember**

 **CHAPTER I**

 _I will wait, I am waiting, and I will love you with all the love I possess until this body is ash and I begin my search for you again.  
Tyler Knott Gregson_

* * *

 _I remember when dad and mom told me stories about Mystic Falls. For some weird reason, I always paid attention. My senses responded instantly when I heard mom say "I wanna go back, I miss it". Dad was always more reluctant. I asked why, several times, and after thinking for a couple of seconds, he just said "memories"._

 _I did not insist. Everyone has their reasons for not wanting to return somewhere, or for not wanting to leave. We moved out from Mystic Falls when I was one year old, to an apartment in Tribeca. The big city, however, was somewhat overwhelming._

 _And after insisting on and on…_

"Always writing" Damon muttered, turning the steering wheel to enter the private property.

Stefan chuckled, holding the pen on the paper.

"You're so annoying, dad" he said. Damon rolled his eyes and Elena pursed her lips to keep from smiling. Stefan shook his head with a soft smile on his lips.

 _… We're back, Mystic Falls._

Stefan looked through the car window, observing the big house about which he had heard so much. It was intimidating, actually. A great mansion and boarding house once. New York's apartment was reduced to ashes if you compared it to that place.

"Home sweet home" Elena said, opening the door of the car.

Damon groaned, leaving the car. Stefan followed him, putting his journal inside his backpack as Elena opened the front door of the house and got inside. Damon, however, stood there, tasting the old creak of the door.

 _"What?!" Damon went outside and Stefan smiled at him. "This was gone. I blew this up."  
_ _"Yeah, well" Stefan opened the door of the car. "You weren't around to annoy me for the last four months, so I had a bit of extra time on my hands."_

 _Damon laughed and gave him a slap on the back as they turned to face the car._

 _"Think of it as an early Merry Christmas-slash-late welcome back to life present" Stefan said with a smile, handing they keys to him. Damon took them and gave him a hug, laughing.  
_ _"Thank you."  
_ _"Hey, just , uh, do me a favor" Stefan said, pointing at him with his finger. "Don't die again. Those fenders were a real bitch to find."  
_ _"Deal" Damon said, staring at his car. Then he looked back at Stefan. "Deal."._

 _Stefan nodded and walked over to the hall._

 _"Ha, yeah" Damon shook his head, followed him and closed the door behind him._

Damon looked at the open door with a blank stare. Then he lowered his gaze with a slight frown and Stefan noticed his absent-mindedness.

"Dad?" he said, folding his arms as he stared at Damon. "You okay?"

Damon looked up at him. He seemed a little surprised to look at Stefan, as if it was the first time that he was seeing him. As if, actually, he was seeing his brother again.

"You look just like him" he said. Stefan frowned.  
"Have you been drinking bourbon before coming? You know mom doesn't like it" Stefan said mockingly as he shook his head.  
"No, I…"  
"Damon" Elena called him from the hall, staring at him.

Damon swallowed hard and came back to earth. He slapped Stefan's back and followed Elena. Stefan looked back one last time before entering the house.

* * *

 _He nodded his head slightly, letting the note drop to the table in order to open the jewelry box. He watched the two daylight rings, his and hers, and he smiled softly._

Damon turned the glass in his hand. He was sitting in front of the fireplace, where the fire crackled incessantly, and he finally took a sip, remembering the previous day to Caroline's departure. He smiled, mocking himself, and remembering all the times that he told her that she was a coward for not wanting to go into the house. _It reminds you of my brother, and that scares you_ , he said all over again. Now he understood.

He heard steps behind him and felt Elena's hands on his chest from behind.

"If you find it very hard, we-"  
"No" he said. "It's just…"  
"It's okay to miss them, Damon. I always do" Elena rested her chin on his shoulder. "Every day."

Damon nodded, watching the fire. Elena sat on the armrest of the chair and stroked his neck. He did not want to admit it out loud, but he missed them. It had been almost 90 years since the last time he had seen Stefan in that house. At the party where his brother stared at Caroline all night, wanting to dance with her, and ending up kissing her.

He smiled, shaking his head. And then he remembered Bonnie, who had been sitting on the chair next to him 20 years ago.

"Are you sure Stefan's bedroom is completely closed?" Elena asked, interrupting his thoughts. "I want to keep Stefan away from… any supernatural stuff."

Damon released a gloomy laugh and took another sip.

"Ironic" he said. Elena looked at him with raised eyebrows and Damon sighed. "I'm sure. All his things are still in his room, which is shut."  
"What if he finds the key?"  
"Well, then our Stef will find out that he had an uncle with his same name and with his same face, body and-"  
"It's not funny, Damon" Elena said, looking back to make sure that Stefan was not nearby.  
"It's not funny that our son is a doppelganger that looks exactly like my brother, who died almost 100 years ago, and that we called him Stefan?"  
"You were the one who wanted to call him Stefan, remember?"  
"He was a crumpled baby, I had no idea he'd look like him."

Elena rolled her eyes and shook her head. The truth is that although 18 years had passed, both of them still wondered how it was possible. It was true that Elena was a doppelganger, and Damon was the brother of another one, but it was just too strange that their first child was born as a replica of Stefan. Damon did not know what to think at first. Over time, however, he let Elena convince him with her theory that maybe it was a miracle and that life had given him another chance to keep remembering his brother somehow.

"I miss Bonnie" Elena said, stroking his neck Damon smiled softly, looking at the fire.  
"I know" he said. Elena sighed, kissed him on the cheek and rose.  
"I'm going to make sure Stefan is doing okay."

Damon nodded as Elena walked over to the stairs. He glanced at the chair next to him again…

 _"What's that stupid smile and face for?"_

 _Damon and Stefan were sitting in front of the fireplace, each one of them with a glass in hand. The youngest smiled, looking at his glass._

 _"Well, you know" he said before taking a sip. "We have the house back. Everything goes as it should. And-"  
_ _"And you and Carebear are dandy. Yeah, I get it" Damon said. "What's that smell?"  
_ _"That smell is Caroline, making pie of… something" Stefan said proudly.  
_ _"Are you serious?"  
_ _"It's Caroline" Stefan said with a 'duh' face and chuckled._

 _Her footsteps were heard behind them, entering the living room. Damon took advantage of her presence to drop one of his comments in order to tease her._

 _"You mean a crazy woman and a-"  
_ _"Yes, Damon" Caroline said. "Don't worry, it's more than clear that we won't miss the other when one of us is no longer here" she said with a fake smile. Damon chuckled and raised his glass.  
_ _"Count on it."_

 _Caroline rolled her eyes and sat on Stefan's lap, putting her arms around his neck and stroking it with her hands. He looked at her with a soft smile and she pursed her lips to keep from smiling. Damon looked away and snorted._

 _"I made cranberry cake to celebrate our welcome back home" she said. "Do you like the taste of the fruit?"_

 _Stefan smiled and brought his face closer to hers to press his lips against hers. Caroline smiled and he chuckled._

 _"I like this one more" he said, looking at her with a smirk.  
_ _"For God's sake" Damon muttered, rolling his eyes. He set the glass on the table and stood up. "I'll leave you alone before you start making out and forget that I'm here."_

 _Stefan and Caroline ignored him and kept immersed in their own bubbles as he kissed her cheek and chin and as she laughed. Damon looked over his shoulder at them one last time before turning the corner, shaking his head and smiling._

Damon set the empty glass on the table in order to stand up. He walked away from the fireplace and the chair, hearing the sound of their laughs somewhere in his mind. He looked over his shoulder at their chair, tasting for a moment the distant cranberry smell.

* * *

Stefan flopped on his new bed with the headphone in his ears, listening to the music that his father qualified as weird and nerdy. He snorted with a vague smile, staring at the ceiling.

The house was fine, although it looked both intriguing and familiar at the same time. The truth was that he was feeling himself at home, and even if he hesitated sometimes during the last months, he was now convinced that the change could not go so bad.

If at least Sophia shared the same opinion and thought.

He took his phone for the fourth time in the last 30 minutes when it buzzed and looked at the screen. _Aren't you going to call me?_ , he read.

"Sophia again?" Elena asked, leaning against the door frame with a smile. Stefan stood and removed his headphones.  
"I think she doesn't understand the meaning of the word _no_ " he said, shrugging.

Elena shook her head and sat down beside him. She looked around, making sure that there was nothing strange about which Stefan could ask, and she finally looked at him.

"I'm sorry you had to break up with her for having to come here" she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He frowned.  
"It was my fault. I shouldn't have said yes in the first place, the first year of high school. I think I agreed because I was bored" he pursed his lips. Elena looked at him with narrowed eyes.  
"Well, maybe… you'll find some girl here" Elena said, nudging him. Stefan rolled his eyes. "Town girls are fine, you know? You have a veteran here."  
"Actually, I'd like to forget about girls for a while."

Elena looked at him. He had been with Sophia for 4 years, but he had never been in love. Not with her, not with anyone. Somehow, he reminded her of herself when she dated Matt. So many years without feeling anything.

"What do you think about the house? Do you like it?" she asked.

Stefan stood up and walked around the bedroom, watching everything with his hands in his pockets as Elena followed him with her eyes.

"It's not bad" he said. "Actually, it seems…" Stefan paced his hand over the shelf "familiar."

His fingers touched a book, the only one on the shelf, and Elena's smile vanished from her face. She watched him grabbing it and looking at the cover with interest.

"What's that?" she asked with a lump in her throat. It could not be one of Stefan's old journals, right?  
"It's just a book" he said. "Written in 1987. There are real relics here, huh?"  
"Yeah" Elena said, relieved. "What's the title?"

Stefan ran his hand over the cover to remove the dust so he could read better.

" _Norwegian Wood_ " he said, his eyes fixed on the cover. "It must have been here for years but… I don't know, maybe I'll give it a reading."  
"Yes, do it" Elena said, heading to the door. "But don't forget to call or get in touch with Sophia. That poor girl deserves a definite break up, at least."  
"Even more definite?" Stefan asked.  
"You know what I mean."

Stefan nodded and sat back on the bed as Elena closed the door of the bedroom. He opened the book and saw a written annotation.

 _Page 350._

It was the last one of the book. Stefan turned the pages fast, intrigued, and realizing that they were full of underlined sentences, annotations, drawings and words. There was an underlined one in the last page.

 _I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning._

Stefan reread the sentence several times, wondering who owned the book. He thought of Damon, but he knew that his father was not a big fan of reading and he did not spend his time underlying sentences. He dropped his head on the pillow, realizing that some sentences were underlined with pencil, others with pen.

That probably meant that two people had shared the book. He was so intrigued that he began to read from the beginning. _I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning._ Perhaps, that was they key.

 _Caroline turned the page. It was the last one of the book. She swallowed, already feeling the empty that would overwhelm her once she read the last word of the novel. It was funny how that book that helped her to not let go of Stefan._

 _Reading it and enjoying the underlined sentences by his pencil had become the best way to let time pass in all those moments when Damon was out, taking care of the heretics, and looking for Valerie._

 _She clenched her jaw at remembering her, feeling the anger flooding her veins, but she finally focused on the words of the last page. And she read and read, until a sentence caught her attention once again._

I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning.

 _Irony of fate. She grabbed her pen and underlined the line; her mind, and maybe also her heart, accepting the harsh reality. Deep down, she knew that she had taken the decision the day when she had seen Stefan die in her arms._

 _Her eyes filled with tears and she looked at her daylight ring with blurred vision. She needed to cling to any kind of hope. Because, maybe, ending with everything meant starting again, from the beginning. Because, maybe, she had to die in order to start again and find him. Wherever he was._

 _"Care?"_

 _She looked up, gloomy as usual, and looked at Bonnie. The brunette approached her slowly, always careful as if Caroline was going to break. Their friendship had not been the same for some time. Bonnie missed seeing her smile or the joy in her eyes. And Caroline was aware of it, and if she was not so damaged, she would do something about it and please her friend. But she had not pleased anyone for years, not even herself._

 _"Hey" she said weakly. Bonnie sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the book in her hands. "I finished."_

 _Bonnie nodded, placing her hand on Caroline's ankle above the sheets._

 _"_ I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning _" she read. Bonnie looked at her and for the first time she saw some sparkle in her eyes. Caroline looked at her. "Do you think there's something, somewhere?" she asked her. Bonnie frowned, confused. "Do you think that… out there, there's… some way to find someone that we've lost?"  
_ _"Caroline…"  
_ _"I… I know that the other side is gone, Bonnie" she said more harshly this time. "But something… There's something that tells me that he might be somewhere, waiting for me."_

 _Caroline looked at the door. Stefan smiled softly, his back against the wall, one of his journals hanging from his hand. She smiled back at him with watery eyes._

 _Bonnie followed the direction of her gaze and looked at the door. There was nothing._

 _"Waiting for me" Caroline repeated, looking at the book again as she fiddled with her daylight ring._

 _Bonnie stared at her, fixing her eyes on the ring for long seconds, trying to reject the idea of what Caroline was probably planning._

 _"Why don't you get some sleep?" she said, rubbing her leg. "You look tired."  
_ _"I think I'll start reading it again" Caroline said, opening the book._

 _Bonnie pursed her lips, not knowing what else she could do or say to take care of her. She left the room and closed the door just when Damon was leaving Stefan's one._

 _"When have you arrived?" Bonnie asked, folding her arms.  
_ _"Half an hour ago" Damon said, locking Stefan's bedroom.  
_ _"Where were you?" she asked, noticing the scratches on his wrists.  
_ _"Out."  
_ _"Damon, we said that there was no way to bring him back, you know that."  
_ _"Yes" Damon said, heading to his bedroom. "I know. How's blondie?"  
_ _"How do you think?"_

 _Damon nodded, looking down, and closed the door of his bedroom behind him._

* * *

Damon turned the key slowly. It was 4am, but he knew that the first night would be the hardest. After opening the door, he leaned against the doorframe and turned on the light.

 _Damon walked into Stefan's room fast at seeing her on the floor. Bonnie followed him quickly with a worried face._

 _"Blondie, hey…" Damon grabbed her arms to help her stand up. Caroline stared at the ground with a defeated face.  
_ _"Caroline…" Bonnie cupped her cheek with her hand to try to smooth her.  
_ _"Stefan, he… He was…" she looked around. Stefan was not there. She had hallucinated it._

Damon looked at the windows. The curtains were drawn, the bed intact, and there was a thing layer of dust on the desk, furniture and shelves. The boxes were stacked in a corner of the room.

He crouched in front of them and saw Stefan's journals through a crack.

"Oh, brother, you were always so dramatic" Damon said with a soft smile.

When he stood up, he saw the jewelry box on the desk. He sighed and opened it, revealing the content inside. He brushed the rings with his fingers, thinking about all the time that had passed, and how much he understood both of them now. They were right. When you disappear without further ado, when you are gone, when time passes, it is difficult to remember clearly. Like that night when Caroline told him that she was scared, she was afraid, and cried nonstop, saying _I don't remember his voice, I can't remember his voice_ all over again.

He clenched his jaw and his fist around the rings, pressing them tightly.

 _"She's gone, isn't she?" Bonnie asked, sitting on the chair in front of the fireplace._

 _Damon looked at the jewelry box on the table, open. He looked down and folded his arms._

 _"I always knew she was going to do it, deep down" she continued, looking at her own hands. She had the rings of Stefan and Caroline on them. "But I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to… accept it."_

 _Damon nodded and sat next to her, dropping on the chair and releasing a sigh._

 _"I don't blame her" he said. Bonnie looked at him. "Blondie couldn't live without my brother, Bonnie. And she was suffering too much without him."  
_ _"Where do you think that she-"  
_ _"I have a slight idea" Damon said, pouring a glass to himself. "The cemetery."_

 _Bonnie nodded with a frown._

 _"She told me something some time ago… I think she had this hope that she'd meet him again, somehow."_

 _Damon laughed, not being able to stop himself._

 _"Yeah, well" he said, leading the glass to his lips. "We already know how this works. The other side doesn't exist. You said it yourself."  
_ _"Yes, I did" Bonnie said, looking at the rings with a frown, thoughtful. "The other side doesn't exist."_

 _They remained silent for a few seconds, and Damon realized how Bonnie seemed to be staring at the rings intently._

 _"Bon" he said, but she did not answer. Damon snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Bon!"_

 _She woke up from her reverie and looked at him, startled._

 _"You okay?" he asked. Bonnie cleared her throat and let the rings drop inside the jewelry box.  
_ _"Yeah" she said. "It's just that I'd have liked to do something for her. For the last time."_

* * *

 _"Your changes of mood will drive me crazy" the brunette man said, climbing the steps. The girl laughed and turned around to put her arms around his neck.  
_ _"Thanks for the walk" she said. He smiled and put his hands on her waist. "And for the dinner, and the ice cream, and-"_

 _Her words vanished in the air, as he pressed his lips against her mouth. Her back hit the door and they both smiled as he parted her lips with his tongue. She looked for the knob of the door with her hand to open it and they headed toward the stairs as they undressed each other._

She opened her eyes suddenly, widely, breathing hard and looking at the ceiling. She swallowed and took her phone. When she looked at the screen, she saw that it was 4.30 in the morning.

"Great" she said, pulling the curls away from her face, snorting.

She touched her chest, trying to get some air and to remember something about her dream. But everything was blurry, unsteady.

Remembering had never been easy.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER II**

 _For over a century, I have lived in secret; hiding in the shadows, alone in the world. Until now. I am a vampire. And this is my story._

* * *

Stefan looked at the bike with his mouth slightly open, contemplating what, to him, was a work of art. He ran his hand over the vehicle, admiring it, as Damon watched him with a proud smile and his arms crossed.

"Wow" he blurted.  
"It's yours, if you want it" Damon said. Stefan nodded, watching the bike. "I know it's old, actually it's been here for years. But since you're so good at mechanics… I thought that maybe you could make some repair."  
"It's perfect" Stefan said, convinced. He would probably make some changes to make it look more modern, although he always had a weakness for antiques. "Was it yours?"  
"Well, uh… I was the one who bought it, yes."

Stefan walked over to the car.

"Speaking of my mechanical skills, have you talked to mom about-"  
"Stefan" Damon shook his head, laughing. "I know you want to look for a job in some repair shop, but you know that Elena wants you to finish the last year of school. I'm sure you'll have a great time in Mystic Halls high school" he said with irony. "Go, Timberwolves!" Damon raised a fist and Stefan looked at him with raised eyebrows, sitting on the driver seat. "What?"  
"You're a pain in the ass" Stefan said, starting the car.  
"It's only a year, Stefan" Damon said. "Besides, didn't you want to be a writer?"

Stefan looked ahead.

"I can't find inspiration to write" he confessed. "I don't know what to write. I don't have… muses, I guess."  
"What about Sophia?"

Stefan glanced at Damon, who chuckled.

"She was always obsessed with you" Damon said, widening his eyes. "Poor girl."  
"Okay, I'm leaving" Stefan said, closing the door of the car. Damon leaned his elbows on the window open.  
"Maybe you'll find inspiration in high school" he said, winking at him. "You know, a muse."  
"Move away, dad" Stefan said. Damon walked backwards and raised his hands, laughing.  
"As you wish."

* * *

 _Caroline sipped her drink and looked at the glass cabinet where the photos of the cheerleaders and the team, the won trophies and the medals, and samples of the uniforms were._

 _"Um, who's that sexy blonde dressed as cheerleader in that picture?" a voice asked behind her. Caroline smiled and rolled her eyes before looking over her shoulder.  
_ _"Her name is Caroline" she said to Stefan.  
_ _"So you know her!" he exclaimed.  
_ _"Oh, yeah."  
_ _"And do you think you could introducer her to me, someday? I'd like to meet her."  
_ _"For what, if I may ask?" she said, raising her eyebrows.  
_ _"You know, to ask her on a date, to have dinner…" he said, wrapping her waist with his arms from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder. Caroline laughed and lifted her arm to bury her fingers in his hair.  
_ _"You're so silly" she said, laughing._

 _Stefan smiled and kissed her on the neck. A tingling feeling ran down her back and she felt the butterflies flying nonstop in her stomach. No matter how long they had been together, she never got used to having Stefan so close, posing his lips on her skin, whispering in her ear, burying his nose in her hair in the morning. His body pressed against hers gave off warm and it was so firm that she felt safe._

 _She heard whispers and murmurs and looked at her left in the hall, which, by the way, was crowded with people who had come to Mystic Falls High School to attend a reunion of old students. Some girls from their school year were watching them and talking nonstop. Caroline looked at the glass cabinet, pursing her lips and making a great effort not to listen to what they were saying. However, it was obvious that they were gossiping about her and Stefan._

 _"Ignore them" he whispered in her ear. "Focus on me" he held her hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. He pressed his lips against her neck again and she closed her eyes, smiling softly and relaxing. "Hey."  
_ _"Hm?"  
_ _"Have you noticed how good the cheerleader uniform suited you?" Stefan asked, looking at the photo. "And, you know, you haven't aged at all, surprisingly. It must look in you as good as it did and-"_

 _Caroline elbowed him in the chest and Stefan laughing, rubbing his abdomen._

 _"I'm just saying I wouldn't mind seeing you wearing it at home one day and that-"  
_ _"Shut up" she said before pulling him to her by the collar of his shirt and pressing her lips against his._

Stefan knocked on the office door of the coach, but just as he did, he noticed the note stuck on the glass. It said that he would return in 15 minutes.

He had nothing to do during the break, so he entered and flopped on the chair. Not that the idea of playing football again got him excited, but he had to spend his free time doing something and playing a sport would be a good idea. He sighed and took his journal to open it and stare the blank sheets.

He felt frustrated and angry at himself. He did not know what to write, he felt as if he had gaps in his mind that his inspiration, void, could not fill. Maybe Damon was right and all he needed was to find a target, an object, a person who would serve as inspiration to start writing a story.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard quick steps in the hall, strange noises, and some yells. He turned to the door in the chair and was wondering what the hell was going on out there when the door was suddenly opened and a girl came in, breathing heavily and closing the door behind her.

Stefan stayed still for a few seconds, staring at her blond curls, the freckles on her cheeks, and the way she was biting her lower lip with her ear pressed against the door. Her eyes were of a deep blue and they had a spark that made him want to simply smile. His gaze dropped to her body and he realized that she was wearing the uniform of the cheerleaders, with such a short skirt showing her long legs that he had to swallow hard and looked up to her face again. She had not noticed him yet.

"Hey" he said.

She looked at him suddenly, startled, and put a hand against her chest. She opened her mouth to say something, but when his eyes met hers, she forgot how to speak.

"Hey" she finally said, looking at his green eyes. Some quick footsteps were heard in the hallway again and she seemed to come back down to the ground. She walked over to him fast, like a hurricane that put the world upside down. "I need your help."  
"What?" he asked with a frown.  
"Look, there's a guy out there who doesn't take a 'no' for an answer and that's very, very scary. Could you just play along and pretend you're my boyfriend or my… husband?"

Stefan saw how the girl was staring at him, with a straight face, as if what she had just said did not sound crazy.

"Sorry, what?" he asked. Someone knocked on the door.  
"I know you're there. Come on, I just want to talk" he said. The girl snorted.  
"You know? Never mind, we have no time to make up any convincing lie" she said thoughtfully and looking around.

Then she walked quickly toward one of the door and she opened it. Stefan straightened up and stood.

"Hey, hey, what are you-"  
"Relax, I've done this a thousand times" she said, getting on the windowsill. Stefan pursed his lips and looked down so his eyes would not look helplessly at the edge of her skirt.  
"Wait, you could get hurt or-"  
"It's okay" she said, laughing. The sound of her laugh clouded his senses. "We're on the first floor, and there's grass on the ground."  
"You are… crazy" Stefan said, not knowing what else to say. The girl smiled and got ready to jump. "Wait" he repeated, walking over to the window. He rested his elbows on the sill and she, sitting on it with her legs hanging outside, looked at him over her shoulder. "The blonde who looks for a suitor and jumps from windows doesn't have a name?" he asked with a mocking tone. She rolled her eyes and smiled, shaking her head. Then she looked into his eyes and he gaped for having her so close. The effect of that girl was not normal.  
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she said, raising her eyebrows. She jumped and he pursed his lips, smiling and nodding.

Someone opened the door and Stefan turned around. He was a dark-haired, strong guy, and was looking around, probably looking for her.

"I swear I'd seen her come in here" he mumbled.  
"See?" another voice was heard behind him, this time it was a girl. "I told you she wouldn't be here. Come on" she said, pulling his arm to get him out of the office. "She's jumped off the window, right?" she asked. Stefan nodded, laughing. She rolled her eyes before closing the door.

Stefan looked out the window, but there was no sign of her. Then looked at his open backpack and saw the journal. Ironic.

* * *

Stefan walked in the woods with his hands in his pockets. If he wanted to build hiw own life in that town, he had to start with something, and that something was meeting the people who lived there. The party seemed ideal for that. Some classmates had invited him and even if he thought about it for a while, he finally agreed to go. Especially when Elena urged him again and again to do so during launch.

He headed to the bar and barrels where drinks were poured and he was about to get himself one when he heard the sound of her laugh again, a few inches away from where he was standing. She was talking to the girl that had asked him if she had jumped off the window that morning. It made sense that they were best friends.

As if she sensed his gaze on her, she looked up and met his eyes. Stefan smiled and looked down, and she pursed her lips to keep from smiling.

"Do you mind if I abandon you for a while?" she said, holding out her beer.  
"Mm, no" Alex said, taking the bottle. "But where are you going?"  
"I have something to do" she said, walking past her to head towards Stefan.

Alex followed her with her eyes, confused.

"Hey, stranger" she said, jumping next to him.  
"Wow, I don't recognize you without your cheerleader uniform and without seeing you jumping off windows" Stefan said, taking two straws.

She rolled her eyes and chuckled, shaking her head and folding her arms.

"So, you're new here" she said.  
"Something like that. I was born here but then I moved to New York" Stefan explained. The girl nodded and looked around.  
"Have you been down to the falls yet? They're really cool at night. I can show you."

 _"Hey! There you are" Caroline said, approaching him. "Have you been down to the falls yet? Because they are really cool at night. And I can show you… if you want" Caroline smirked at him.  
_ _"I think you've had too much to drink" Stefan said.  
_ _"Well, of course I have" she said, laughing. "So-"  
_ _"Caroline, you and me, it's not gonna happen" he said. Caroline looked at him with a questioning look. "Sorry."_

 _Stefan walked next to her and her smiled vanished slowly._

"Mm, what's the hospitality for?" Stefan asked with an amused smile.  
"Well, consider it a welcome home gift and a thank you for not revealing my whereabouts this morning" she said.

Stefan stared at her. He was curious about her, about her way of being, all the mystery that surrounded her, and something pulled him, as if there was a rope that led to her, a force that made him want to know more.

"Okay" he said.  
"Okay?"  
"Yeah, okay."

She nodded, proud, and pointed at a part of the woods.

"Over here" she said. Stefan stood beside her and both of them started walking. "I hope the other straw is for me. Since I'm going to be your guide for free, you should invite me to half a glass, at least."

Stefan looked at her, surprised at how direct she was. He chuckled and looked forward.

"I don't know… It seems you've drunk too much" he said.  
"Not at all. This" she pointed at herself, "is my sober state. I'm completely lucid and sane right now."  
"I don't want to imagine how you look when you're drunk, then" he said. She nudged him in the ribs and he winced.  
"Ouch."

* * *

 _She dares me to pour myself out like a living waterfall. She dares me to enter the soul that is more than my own; she extinguishes fear in mere seconds. She lets light come through.  
Virginia Woolf._

"Wow" Stefan said, watching the waterfall.  
"Right?" she smiled. "I bet you don't have this in New York."

Stefan glanced at her, watching her wide smile as she looked at the water falling. He let himself be overwhelmed by the sound of the water as he watched her with interest, wanting to know what was going on in her mind.

"No, we don't" he said, staring at her. She took the glass from his hand to give it a sip. "So, student of penultimate year, huh?"

She nodded and handed the glass back to him.

"So, writer, huh?" she said, imitating him. He looked at her, surprised.  
"How do you-"  
"I saw the journal dropping from your lap, and it fell to your backpack when you stood up, in the office" she explained. "The pages looked a bit blank, though."

Stefan bit the inside of his cheek.

"Yeah, well… I'm having trouble to find inspiration" he said.  
"Mm" she mumbled. "There is a lot of inspiration for everyone in Mystic Falls. In this town we have peculiar people, urban legends, myths based on weird ancient mythology, and a lot of romantic stories that who knows if they're true, but people believe them. I can help you" she said suddenly, startling him. "You can write about one of those stories. For example, my aunt told me that years ago this town was full of werewolves, witches and vampires."  
"Yeah, sure" Stefan said with a mocking laugh.  
"I'm serious!" she said, giving him a nudge. "And I'm sure that someone will tell you the story about the lovers of the cemetery soon" she rolled her eyes.  
"That sounds creepy" he said.  
"Yeah, well, it's about a girl who wasn't able to continue living without the love of her life and decided to die to be reunited with him. Weird."

She laughed with disdain and Stefan looked at her with a frown, realizing how much she talked.

"You sound skeptical" he said.  
"Isn't it the same old story? A woman committing suicide because of a man because she misses him so much. And what's more dramatic than dying on his grave?" she snorted and Stefan pursed his lips to keep from smiling. Her frustration was adorable. "Anyway, her body was never found, so."  
"You're a feminist, huh?" he said, raising his eyebrows. She looked at him. "You don't know the story of that man, who knows if he had to sacrifice himself to save her or if he-"  
"Are you saying that you believe in those stories?" she asked. He laughed.  
"I'm just saying that there's always some truth behind every story" he said, raising his hands to defend himself.  
"It's so obvious that you're a writer" she muttered. Then, she rose on her feet suddenly, swaying a little, and Stefan stood up quickly to grab her so she would not fall.  
"I think we should go back" he said, trying not to laugh.  
"What? And what about our bath?" she asked. Stefan looked confused at her.  
"Bath?"

Caroline nodded and was about to take off her top, but Stefan stopped her, grabbing her wrists softly and carefully.

"What are you doing?" he asked after gulping. She giggled.  
"We're going to jump off and swim in the falls!"  
"Another day, okay?" he said. "I think you've had too much to drink."  
"Fine" she said, giving up. She looked at the falls with nostalgia and he smiled. "So, are you going to let me help you write your story?"

 _"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline asked. "You know, how come the guys that I want never want me?"  
_ _"I'm not touching that" Bonnie said.  
_ _"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And… Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, and… I'm never the one."_

"Mm, I'll take the risk" he said. "But if we're going to work together, maybe I should… I don't know, know your name?"

She looked at him with a little smile. She held out her hand.

"Caroline" she said. "My name is Caroline."

Stefan got lost in her eyes for a few seconds until he took her hand.

"Caroline" he repeated to taste her name on her lips. Caroline looked down at the joined hands. The feel of his skin reminded her of something, warmth, home.

 _Stefan took her hand to help her get off the car._

 _"But, where are we going?" she asked for the fifth time.  
_ _"Caroline, I'm sure you know the meaning of the word 'surprise', so stop asking."  
_ _"I don't like surprises, Stefan!" she exclaimed as Stefan guided her.  
_ _"What the hell are you talking about? You love them."  
_ _"I know, ugh!"_

 _Stefan shook his head, wondering how he had not lost his patience yet. He guided her to the Falls and saw the guard inside his guard house. Their presence was noticed by him and he quickly left the house with a lantern in his hand._

 _"Hey! Sorry, but you can't go there. The council decided to close it to the public and…"_

 _Caroline frowned, not understanding what was happening, and felt how Stefan released her hand._

 _"You're going to let us go ahead. And also, you'll leave us alone, and not remember any of this tomorrow when you wake up."_

 _The guard walked away and Stefan turned to Caroline once he got into his car._

 _"Stefan, who was that? Why did you compel him? Where the hell are we?"_

 _Stefan laughed at her impatience and placed her in front of the waterfall to remove the blindfold that was covering her eyes. Caroline blinked several times before opening her eyes and seeing what lay ahead. Even though she had heard the sound of the water, the truth was that it had not occurred to her that they were there._

 _"I wanted to show you the Falls" Stefan said against her ear, behind her._

 _Caroline bit her lower lip, staring at her feet._

 _"So, you remember" she said, a little embarrassed.  
_ _"Uh-huh" Stefan nodded and gave her a quick kiss on the neck. "And since I was a complete dick, I thought I owed you one."_

 _Caroline smiled and Stefan stood at her side with his hands on his hips, looking at her with raised eyebrows._

 _"So what? Are you in?" he asked.  
_ _"Ha! Who do you think you're talking to, Stefan?" she said, and took off her shirt. He looked down at her bra and gulped. Caroline threw her shirt to his face to make him react, laughing. Stefan took it away from it with a little smile, biting the inside of his cheek.  
_ _"Okay, let's do it."_

 _Stefan took off his shirt and Caroline approached him to unbuckle the belt of his jeans. He looked at her curiously and Caroline let it drop to the ground._

 _"I was just giving you a hand" she said.  
_ _"Sure…"_

 _Caroline shrugged and took off her pants as Stefan looked at her, doing the same thing._

 _"You first" he said, nudging her arm.  
_ _"What? No way! You go first" she said._

 _Stefan rolled his eyes, bent next to her and wrapped her thighs with his arms to throw her over his shoulder._

 _"That's cheating!" Caroline cried as Stefan ran toward the water._

 _Stefan dove into the water with her. When they emerged, Stefan grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. She smiled and wrapped his neck with her arms and his waist with her legs as Stefan stroked her back under the water._

 _"So… Did you like it?" Stefan asked.  
_ _"Which thing?"  
_ _"This, our first date" he said as if it was obvious.  
_ _"Oh! This is a date?" Caroline asked, pretending to be surprised. He looked at her with narrowed eyes.  
_ _"You're so annoying" he said before burying his face in her neck._

 _Caroline laughed, but her laught was drowned when Stefan covered her mouth with his to kiss her. He looked for the clasp of her bra with his fingers and unfastened it. Caroline pulled away and threw her head back to look at him raised eyebrows. Stefan looked at her with an innocent face._

 _"What? Seeing all this water makes me thirsty."_


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER III**

 _Falling in love is very real, but I used to shake my head when people talked about soul mates, poor deluded individuals grasping at some supernatural ideal not intended for mortals but sounded pretty in a poetry book. Then, we met, and everything changed, the cynic has become the converted, the sceptic, an ardent zealot._ "  
― E.A. Bucchianeri

* * *

Aunt Marien frowned upon hearing a crash in the basement. She descended a few steps of the stairs and saw Caroline sitting on her knees on the floor, surrounded by boxes and books full of dust. She cleared her throat to make her presence known and Caroline looked up from a book to look at her with a wide smile.

"Hey."  
"What the hell are you doing, Care?" Marien asked, leaning against the wall and folding her arms.  
"Uh…" Caroline looked around, realizing all the mess. "God, what a mess."  
"Really?"  
"You know perfectly well I'll tidy and clean everything as soon as I'm done."  
"I know" Marien sighed. "You're a control freak, so I have no doubt. But what are you looking for?"  
"Do you remember that book from the library that I stole years ago?"

Marien looked at her with narrowed eyes, suspicion and interest.

"The story of the lovers of the cemetery" Marien said. "You were obsessed with it when you were 10."  
"Yeah, that one" Caroline said, looking at the boxes.  
"What do you want it for?"  
"There's this guy in high school, he's a writer" Caroline explained, staring at the covers of some books. "He lacks inspiration and I suggested he write about it. But we need background information, you know."  
"We?" Marien asked with raised eyebrows and a smirk. Caroline rolled her eyes.  
"It's not what you think, Marien" Caroline said with impatient. "He's just a friend."  
"Well, you're wasting your time. I'm afraid I gave that book to a friend a couple of years ago" Marien said. "After you got bored of the story."  
"Oh" Caroline dropped the books inside the box and snorted. "I guess we'll have to go to the library."

Marien nodded, watching Caroline put the books carefully in the boxes. Over the years, she had gotten used to her habits. The truth is that, at first, the idea of taking care of a 3 year old child scared her a little, but she had learned to love her, even if they did not share the same blood.

 _When she opened the door, she was greeted by a familiar face, with blue eyes and a grin._

 _"Damon Salvatore" Marien said, resting her head against the door frame.  
_ _"Marien Bennett" Damon said, clasping his hands.  
_ _"What do I owe this pleasure" Marien asked, heading to the couch. Damon closed the door behind him and followed her.  
_ _"I've come to ask you for a favour" Damon said, looking around._

 _Marien looked at him, realizing that Damon was staring at the furniture, probably trying to find out everything that he could about the house where the daughter of Bonnie lived._

 _"No marriages yet?" he asked.  
_ _"I'm afraid that's not my thing" Marien said, sitting down on the couch. Damon nodded, taking a photograph of a baby that was on the mantelpiece.  
_ _"Who is this?" he asked with a frown._

 _Marien watched him for a few seconds in silence and then sighed._

 _"A girl I'm taking care of" she explained. "Her father left when she was one, her mother died the following year."  
_ _"Ouch" Damon left the photo in its place.  
_ _"What do you need, Damon?"  
_ _"A book" he said. "I asked in the library but they had no idea what I was talking about. Then I checked the records and saw that the last person who had borrowed it was you. You like my brother's story, huh?"  
_ _"Actually, it wasn't for me" Marien shrugged. "You know that story is popular here."  
_ _"Exactly, and that's precisely what I want to stop. Elena and I have decided to come back to Mystic Falls someday, perhaps when Stef turns 18 in a couple of years. I wouldn't want that book to be read by the wrong person. We're trying to avoid any supernatural issue, given the circumstances. I guess you've already heard that-"  
_ _"Your son is an exact replica of your brother, yes" Marien said. "What a coincidence, right?"_

 _Damon stared into her eyes with a frown, lines on his forehead due to the concentration, as if he was trying toe ad her mind, or as if he was about to compel her. A pity that he had stopped being a vampire so many years ago. Marien smiled slightly and rose to take the book and hand it to him._

 _"Here" she said. "Take it, keep it… Do whatever you want with it."  
_ _"Actually, I had thought of giving it back to your mom's suitor" Damon said, turning the pages of the book.  
_ _"You're going to give a writer his own book?" Marien asked, raising her eyebrows. "I'm sure he has his own copy already."  
_ _"Nah, I'm just going to tell him to keep them in a safe place, and to never open his mouth."_

 _Marien rolled her eyes as Damon walked to the door._

 _"Take care, Marien" he said before disappearing, and just before crackles were heard on the stairs behind her.  
_ _"Who was that?" Caroline asked, taking off her headphones.  
_ _"Just…" Marien looked at the photograph of Caroline on the mantlepiece. "A salesman. You know how tiring they can be."_

Caroline shook her hands and stood up with energy.

"And what's his name?" Marien asked. Caroline started going up the stairs and replied after passing next to her.  
"Stefan" she said.

Marien looked down at the floor and smiled.

* * *

When the thunder was heard in the sky, the lights of the school hall flickered, causing some gasps from the students. Stefan heard a whimper and looked at her, standing a few steps away. She was in front of her locker, staring at the ceiling with a disappointed and sad face.

He started walking toward her, dodging people, and stood in front of her open locker just when Caroline was about to pick up a book.

"Hey" he said. Caroline frowned, and Alex smiled softly next to her, without looking at them.  
"Hey… You're blocking my locker" she said.  
"I know, I'm doing it on purpose, actually" Stefan said.  
"Stefan, studying some days together and you helping me with History don't give you the right to block my locker" she said, folding her arms.  
"I'm here to propose something" Stefan said, grabbing her bag and putting it inside the locker.  
"What-"  
"I have football training" he said.  
"Uh… Good for you?" she said, laughing. Stefan shook his head.  
"But with this storm, I doubt we'll get out to the field. So… I had thought that we could use this free time to go to the library and find that book you told me about. What do you say?"

Stefan seemed impatient, maybe even a little desperate. Caroline looked at him for a few seconds and then askance at Alex, who shrugged with a smile on her face. Caroline looked away from her friend. Alex had been teasing her about Stefan the last months.

"I had thought about using this time to do some homework, actually" she said, stretching her arm over his shoulder to grab her bag again. But Stefan was fast and grabbed her wrist to stop her.  
"Caroline, come on" he said with an imploring look.  
"I've got 3 exams next week. Three exams! What do you want? For me to fail?"  
"I'll make it up to you. I'll help you with everything, I promise."

Caroline sighed, looking down. Stefan tapped her wrist with his fingers and she watched the move, somewhat confused.

"Fine" she finally said, giving up. Stefan smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, leaving her frozen.  
"Great. I'll leave my bag in my locker, see you at the entrance?"  
"Uh, yes…"

Stefan walked away and Caroline stared at her open locker, as if she could not think or react. Alex chuckled, closing her locker, which made Caroline wake up.

"What?" she asked.  
"Nothing" Alex said, smiling.  
"Stop thinking that" Caroline said, pointing at her with her finger.  
"I didn't say anything!" Alex exclaimed.  
"You don't have to, I can read your mind" Caroline said. "And what you're thinking is not true."  
"Caroline, there's always a first time for everything. Even for you to like someone, you know?"

Alex said goodbye with her hand, grinning, and Caroline followed her with her eyes with a murderous look.

* * *

Caroline got off the bike and Stefan realized that she was soaked from neck to feet, with her clothes clutching her body. She removed her helmet and he looked away quickly, removing his.

"I'm soaked" she said.  
"You decided to come on bike instead of using your car" Stefan said, shaking his head.  
"I thought it'd be fun!" Caroline said. "I told you, I had never been on a bike."  
"No boyfriends with bikes?" Stefan asked, trying to make the question sound as casual and normal as possible.  
"Nope" she said. "Does that question mean that you've driven your girlfriends with this wreck?" she asked, patting the seat.  
"First, girlfriend, singular, no plural" he clarified, getting off the bike. "And second, this isn't a wreck. This is a work of art" he said, admiring the vehicle with his eyes. Caroline raised an eyebrow, looking at him, and he realized. "What?"  
"Nothing" she said, shrugging and smiling. "I didn't know bikes were your kind of girl."  
"How funny" he said.

They started walking to the door of the library.

"You know? I don't know if they'll let me in" Caroline said thoughtfully.  
"What have you done?"  
"I didn't give back a book some years ago."

Stefan glanced at her, and she stared back at him. He chuckled and gave her a playful pinch in the back. She pulled his hand away, laughing too.

"Why am I not surprised?" Stefan asked. "Anyway, I'm sure they must have forgotten. Besides, I need your help. I could find the book myself, but two pairs of hands are more useful than one."

She dug her hands into the pockets of her jacket, smiling softly. She liked it when he always included her in his plans. Or when he asked for her help. It made her feel useful.

Once inside, they headed to the Mystic Fall area and began searching among shelves full of books. Stefan pulled out one by one while Caroline just looked at the spines to read the titles, since she remembered the appearance of the cover quite well.

"Wouldn't it be easier and quicker to ask the librarian?" Stefan asked, turning the pages of a book.  
"What's the fun in that?" Caroline mumbled, standing on tiptoe to see the superior shelf better. "It'd ruin all the experience of pre-writing research."

Stefan smiled, shaking his head, and looked over his shoulder at her. Her back was to him, and her shirt was slightly raised, making visible the small of her back, and highlighting her butt. He bit the inside of his cheek instinctively, somewhat frozen, still with the book in hand, as he watched her. Her blond hair was falling halfway her back, and without knowing why, it made him want to bury his fingers in it and stroke it.

He shook his head quickly and looked at the shelf in front of him after gulping.

 _Don't even think about it, Stefan. She's your friend, that's all._

He put the book back in its place and, helplessly, he looked back at her over his shoulder, only that Caroline had disappeared.

"Caroline?" he asked, walking among the shelves until he bumped into her back. A warm feeling ran through his body, but then he realized what was happening.

A couple was making out in one of the quite narrow hallways, and Caroline was staring at them with her arms crossed.

"And you're looking at them because…?"  
"The shelf against which they're making out" she said. "That was my next target."  
"Target?"  
"I had made a mental planning, organizing the shelves in my mind, to find the damn book."

Stefan looked down a little, just watching the crown of her head.

"You're crazy" he said.  
"Yeah, that was already clear the day we met" she said.

Stefan smiled, sensing the heat radiating from her body so close to his.

"They seem pretty… in love?" Stefan said, looking at the couple. Caroline chuckled with disdain. "What?"  
"Love is overrated" she said. Stefan had thought that several times in his life. However, even if he had never experienced it, he knew that love was there. Otherwise, what was the point of all those love stories that writers wrote? What he could not understand was how Caroline had never been in love, being so authentic, great and beautiful.  
"You've never been in love?" he asked helplessly.

Caroline stood still for a few seconds, and then looked at him over her shoulder. She had not realized how close he was until now, and Stefan could not help but look down at her open mouth.

"No" she said and cleared her throat, looking back ahead. "At least I think so."  
"We can share hallway, if you want" the girl of the couple said. Caroline and Stefan looked at them, realizing that they had stopped making out and that they were looking at them. Stefan opened his mouth to say something, but Caroline was faster.  
"Actually, we were looking for a book. Do you mind?" she asked as gently as possible.

The couple walked away and Caroline stood in front of the shelf. Stefan placed himself next to her, leaning his back against the wall and putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"So, you're one of those girls who hate love and people who show they're in love" he said.  
"No… It's not that, Stefan" she said with a sigh.  
"Then?"  
"It's just hard to believe that two people are going to be in love for the rest of their lives or that they're destined to be together or that one of them is not going to abandon the other when he or she gets tired" she said quickly as if she had answered that question a thousand times.  
"Wow" he blurted.  
"I don't remember much of the story of the book, but I remember the part where he abandoned her and left Mystic Falls" she said. "See? At the end, everyone leaves when things get a little complicated."  
"Or maybe he had a reason why he left, Caroline?"  
"And what if he did? Do you really love someone if you leave when you need each other the most?"

Both remained silent, staring at each other. He did not know why, but Stefan felt a great need to make her see that things were not always white or black. Sometimes, circumstances could be more complicated. However, he was the first to lower his gaze. Caroline sighed and looked up at the shelf.

She stood on tiptoe to try to reach a book, but she could not. Stefan, in order to leave behind that discussion, bent to wrap her knees and legs with his arms, grab her and lift her in the air.

"Stefan."  
"You're welcome, Caroline" he said. She rolled her eyes, pursing her lips to keep from smiling.  
"Wait" she said suddenly.  
"What?"  
"I think I've found it."  
"The book?"  
"Yes! Pull me closer!"

He did so, but at the last second, he walked backwards. Caroline was about to lose her balance and had to hold on the opposite shelf, dropping some books.

"Stefan, not now" she said.  
"You're right, sorry" he said, walking back to the shelf. Caroline was going to take the book, but Stefan went back again  
"God" she rolled her eyes, laughing, and gave him a pinch on the shoulder for some revenge.  
"Ouch" he said, laughing too.

Eventually, Caroline managed to grab the book and opened it. Her smile faded when she realized the pages were blank.

"What the…?"  
"What's going on up there?" he asked.  
"There's nothing here" she said, turning the pages. "Someone has taken off the book and changed the covers."

Stefan frowned and Caroline rested the book on his head to take a look to every page.

"Totally blank" she said.  
"So, what do we do now?" he asked. Caroline tore off the cover and put it in her pocket. "Why did that sound illegal?"  
"Do you want to find the book or not?" she asked.  
"It would have been enough to take a photo with a phone, Caroline" he said.  
"Oh, you're right" she giggled and Stefan rolled his eyes.

* * *

Caroline climbed the porch steps and Stefan followed her. When they entered the house, she dropped her jacket on the couch and took off her shoes with the help of her feet. Stefan closed the door behind him, still insisting on what they had been discussing for the last 30 minutes.

"You really think it's not weird?" he asked, following her up the stairs to the second floor.  
"I told you I do, Stefan" she said for the fifth time, opening the door of her bedroom.

Stefan had been so immersed in his thoughts that he had not realized that he was in Caroline's room for the first time. He looked around, watching her more personal space. Everything was meticulously neat and clean.

"Very Caroline Forbes" he murmured. She smiled, picking her hair up in a bun before flopping on the bed and looking at the cover of the book.

Stefan looked at the photographs of the shelves and desk, realizing that in none of them she was with her parents. However, there were many of her with whom he supposed was Aunt Marien.

"It's a long story" she said without looking away from the cover.

Stefan flopped beside her and looked at the cover.

"What are we supposed to do with that?" he asked.  
"Find the author" she explained as if it was obvious.

Stefan remained silent for few seconds until he turned to her and looked at her.

"You know? I have time to listen to that story."

Caroline left the cover on the bed and turned to him after letting out a sigh.

"My mom died when I was 2" she said.

Stefan looked into her eyes, wanting to take her hand, or hug her, or pull her closer to him.

"I'm sorry" he said, opting for the first option. Caroline looked at their hands, surprised that it seemed so normal. "And your dad?"  
"He left my mom one year before."

Stefan finally understood why Caroline had reacted that way in the library when they talked about love. The only example she had was her parents, so it was reasonable. Helplessly, he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, stroking her cheek with his thumb at the same time. Caroline stared at him, trying to stay as still as possible, trying to not flinch, to ignore the speed at which her heart was beating.

"I'm so sorry, Caroline" he said with complete honesty, stroking her arm with his hand.  
"It's okay" she said, shrugging. "It's been a long time, I barely knew them, anyway. Although I feel close to my mom, in a way. Bu Marien took me in and looked after me since then. She's… great, I owe her a lot."

Stefan nodded, reaching her hand again, and interlacing their fingers. Caroline tried to ignore the things that her mind was saying. _Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him._ What the hell? She needed to have a serious talk with herself as soon as possible.

"Caroline?" Marien opened the door and Caroline, freaking out, released Stefan's hand quickly and due to the movement, she fell off the bed.

Marien folded her arms on the door and looked at Stefan.

"Hey" he said, waving with his hand. "Marien, right?"  
"Uh-huh" she said, looking at him carefully. Caroline got up, her face red, and shook her jeans.  
"I thought your shift finished at 8" she said.  
"There wasn't much to do and we left earlier" Marien explained. "I'm glad you brought Stefan."

Caroline glared at Marien and Stefan could not help feeling a certain joy at realizing that Caroline had told her aunt about him.

"Why don't you stay for dinner, Stefan?" Marien asked.  
"Sure" he said.  
"Apparently, Stefan can cook like a chef" Caroline said. "Why don't you go downstairs and help my aunt while I take a shower?"  
"Women are in charge" Stefan said, getting off the bed.  
"Exactly" Caroline murmured, heading to the wardrobe.  
"I guess you've already known the feminist side of Care" Marien told Stefan as they went down. Caroline rolled her eyes in her bedroom.  
"Oh, sure I have."

* * *

 _Enzo walked over to the older woman that was standing in front of the grave on which SS was written. He took off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders, making her smile, with her face full of wrinkles._

 _"Always punctual" Bonnie said.  
_ _"I can't say I didn't know you'd be here" Enzo said.  
_ _"Damon didn't want to come" Bonnie said. "He never wants to."  
_ _"I know."_

 _Bonnie sighed and pulled something out of her pocket. Caroline's engagement ring._

 _"I wanted to come one last time" Bonnie said. "To say goodbye."_

 _Enzo nodded, stroking her back._

 _"What are you going to do with that?" he asked, pointing at the ring.  
_ _"Give it to Marien" she said. "I guess it'd be a shame to leave it here. Someone could take it or it might get lost."  
_ _"Wasn't that what Caroline wanted?"  
_ _"Caroline wanted many things" Bonnie said with a little smile._

 _Enzo sighed._

 _"You know? I'm glad it's almost time" she said. "Because I've lived a long and happy life, and I had more than I could ask for. And I'm happy that Elena will be able to wake up, even if not seeing her again makes me sad. But she has a second chance, and that's the best way I can leave."  
_ _"Bonnie Bennett, don't you get tired of trying to fight for others' happiness even when you have to walk with a stick?"_

 _Bonnie laughed and Enzo smiled._

 _"I'd like for Caroline to have a second chance too" she said thoughtfully. Enzo looked at her with pity, as he had been with her all those years in which Bonnie looked for ways to bring her friend and Stefan back._

 _She opened her bag and pulled out a journal. She stroked the leather cover and sighed, handing it to him._

 _"What's this?" he asked.  
_ _"I need you to do me one last favour, Enzo" she said. "Just one more."_

 _He looked curiously at her._

 _"Read this when I'm gone, okay? At least the first page. I've written some instructions for what you need to do, and a long explanation."_

 _Enzo nodded, intrigued, and wondering what Bonnie had done this time._

 _"Will I regret not reading it before you go?" he asked.  
_ _"No" she said, smiling. "But I need you to do what I say, Enzo. Promise me."_

 _He looked at her for a few seconds and finally pressed his lips against her forehead, sealing the promise._

 _"I promise you, Bonnie Bennett."_

Caroline stepped onto the porch and Stefan followed her.

"Here" she said, putting a cap on his head. He opened his mouth to complain, but she shot him a warning look. "I don't care if your hair gets messy, Stefan."  
"I wasn't going to-"  
"You think I haven't noticed how much you take care of your hair?" she asked. "It's raining, do you prefer to get it soaked?"

Stefan rolled his eyes and saw the cover in the back pocket of her jeans. He took it and looked at her.

"Well, plans?" he asked.  
"I told you, look for the author. We can look on the Internet, I'm sure it won't be difficult to find out where he lives."  
"That depends on whether or not he wants to be found."  
"In that case we'll look and look for him until we find him. There's nothing that Caroline Forbes has not done so far" she said. Stefan bit the inside of his cheek.  
"Tell your aunt that dinner was great" he said, heading to the bike.  
"Again?" she said, laughing.  
"She's nice" he said with a shrug.  
"I think she likes you way too much" Caroline said, folding her arms and leaning against the wall of the porch as she followed him with her eyes.  
"What can I do? I have an irresistible charm" he said.

Caroline raised her eyebrows and Stefan hit the rear-view mirror of the bike, which made her burst into laughing.

"Yes. Yes, you do" she said, shaking her head. "Be careful, okay?"  
"You sound worried, Caroline" he said with an amused tone, getting on the bike.  
"Well, we can't carry out our investigation if you die, don't you think?"

He shook his head, grabbing the helmet.

"Name?" she asked.  
"What?"  
"The writer of the book. What's his name?"  
"Oh" Stefan took the cover and looked at it. "Lorenzo, Lorenzo St. John."

* * *

 _Caroline opened her eyes and yawned, stretching her arms. She smiled at the sound of the pen against the pages and rolled her eyes._

 _"It's 8am, Stefan" she said, getting out of the bed, completely naked.  
_ _"Exactly, and it surprises me that you're not freaking out over all the things you have to do today" he said, smiling and writing.  
_ _"Well, I guess I can take a day off" she stood behind him and put her arms around his neck to stroke his chest.  
_ _"You know, I really can't concentrate if you keep trying to distract me, especially if you're naked."_

 _Caroline giggled and kissed his neck. Stefan let the pen drop and closed his eyes with a little smile on his face._

 _"What are you writing?" she whispered into his ear.  
_ _"Huh, nothing, just…" he gulped when he felt her teeth biting his earlobe, "some stuff. It can wait."_

 _Caroline smiled and looked askance at the pages, seeing her name written._

 _"Wait, what's this?" she stopped teasing Stefan and grabbed the journal. Stefan opened his eyes, not satisfied enough.  
_ _"Come on, Caroline, give it to me" he said, stretching his arm to take the journal, but Caroline spun as she read.  
_ _"You're writing about me" she said with a smile. Stefan shook his head, rubbing his forehead. "Oh, this content is definitely not for teenagers" she chuckled and Stefan grabbed her arm to pull her to him._

 _He made her sit on his lap, took the journal and threw it somewhere in the bedroom._

 _"You know? It could happen, someday."  
_ _"Which thing?"  
_ _"Someone writing about us. Someone writing our story, about how much I love you" he ran the tip of his nose down her shoulder and she grinned as he stroked her stomach with his hand. "Someone writing about how much Stefan Salvatore loved Caroline Forbes, and about how neither of them could live in a world where the other didn't exist."_

 _She took his chin with her fingers to make him look at her. He did so, staring into her eyes intently as he stroked her thigh._

 _"I love you" he said. "So much. You don't know how much I lov-"_

 _Caroline smiled softly and pulled his head to her to press her lips against his. Stefan put his arm around her waist and after throwing all the objects on the desk, he made her sit on it. And they laughed, and smiled, and honored that love. And if someone would have seen them, they would have definitely wanted to write their story. Who would not._


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER IV**

 _You fall in love and it doesn't work out, and you think that it'll never happen again, but it does. Believe me, it does. In the strangest of places._

"I think I should go" she said "Marien must be hungry and she'll be about to arrive" Caroline looked at the clock askance.  
"Hmm" Alex muttered before leading the coke to her lips.  
"See you on Monday?"  
"Sure" Alex said with a smirk.  
"Stop doing that" Caroline pointed at her with her finger and threw a warning look at her.  
"Doing what?"  
"Think that I'm falling in lo-" Caroline closed her mouth suddenly and Alex looked at her with raised eyebrows and an amused face. Caroline ran a hand across her forehead, shaking her head. "I hate you, see you on Monday."

Caroline gave her a kiss on the crown, grabbed the food bag and jumped off her stool. Once outside, she pressed the cardigan against her body and pull out the phone to check if she had missed any messages.

"You know what? Who cares? It's not as if…"

She stopped talking and walking and looked back after hearing some footsteps behind her. The alley was completely empty except for a car from the street and the noise that the leaves of the tree branches made while hitting each other because of the wind.

She placed her hair behind her ear and kept walking, wanting to believe that she was being paranoid. However, she heard the footsteps behind her again a few seconds later and she pulled out the small mirror of her bag carefully but quickly and pretended to look at herself in order to see if there was someone behind her.

From a considerable and prudent distance, there was a man wearing jeans, leather jacket and the hood over his face, so she could not see his face. Caroline turned her head toward him and realized that he was quickening his pace. She did the same, feeling how her heart started beating faster and the adrenaline began to flood her senses. She pressed the mirror under her fingers, ready to throw it at his head if necessary.

"Hey!"

She paled at hearing him calling her and started running. She also heard the man running after her and felt her ears buzzing. She turned a corner and looked back when she suddenly hit something. Or someone.

"Ahhhh! Let me go, don't touch me or I swear I'll kick your ass and…" Caroline hit them with her fists and eyes closed.  
"Caroline, hey, hey" Stefan grabbed her wrists to stop her and she open her eyes widely, breathing hard. "It's me, are you okay?"

She looked at him with worried eyes and then gave him a push.

"You scared me!" she yelled at him.  
"What?" But I was just-"  
"Someone…" Caroline swallowed, trying to calm down. "Someone was following me, wearing a hood and was calling me and…

Stefan frowned upon hearing how she spoke endlessly and without much sense. He took three steps toward the corner and checked the street. Caroline, hidden behind him, grabbed his sweater from behind and looked over his shoulder, still frightened.

"There's nobody there, "Caroline" he said.  
"I swear someone was following me, Stefan."

He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder and she raised her eyebrows.

"Did you drink?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and snorted, starting to walk again and leaving Stefan behind. He sighed and followed her until he reached out and grabbed her cardigan to pull her back to him.

"Caroline, I promise I wouldn't let anything happen to you" he said, placing his hand on her shoulder.  
"I'm not crazy, and I didn't drink. Well, yes, I drank a Coke, but as far as I know they don't contain alcohol and…"

Stefan could not help but laugh at how she had started to beat around the bush again and she looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Would you like to come back to be sure?" Stefan asked, pointing backwards with her head. Caroline shoved her hands in the cardigan and looked down.  
"It's okay. I was on my way home" she said. "I bought dinner at the Grill."  
"Oh" Stefan looked at the plastic bag hanging from her arm. "I was going there. I read your message late, sorry."  
"Never mind" she said quickly. "Besides, it was just, you know, a normal meeting, with Alex and some other friends."

Stefan frowned and looked at her curiously, nodding slowly.

"Well" Caroline cleared her throat. "Bye!"

She turned around but Stefan grabbed her arm.

"I'm not going to let you go alone after what happened. I'll walk you" he said.  
"Good" she handed him the bag and Stefan took it, smiling.

They started walking, one beside the other, quietly. Stefan was surprised to realize that the silence between them was not uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, he enjoyed it. He still remembered how Sophia always talked endlessly whenever they went out, and about things that did not interest him much. With Caroline, however, everything was different. Familiar, warm and comforting.

They were arriving at her street when he remembered something.

"I've been researching on the Internet before coming and I found a list of addresses with the name of Lorenzo St. John in New York. I took a picture with my phone, look" he gave her the phone and she looked at the photo with the list of addresses. "Now we just have to start looking and discard" he said. She was going to give the phone back when she ran her finger across the finger accidentally, moving to the next image. It was hers, one of the evenings that they had met to study. She was on the bed, reading with her hair in a messy bun while biting the pencil.

Stefan realized and tried to grab the phone, but she dodged him.

"Caroline, come on" he said and snorted.  
"What the hell is this?" she asked, sliding her finger on the screen and realizing that he had more pictures of her completely distracted, in several places, several days.  
"Caroline" he tried to snatch the phone again but Caroline hid it behind her back.  
"What's that?" she repeated, laughing.  
"Pictures?"  
"I know they're pictures, Stefan" she rolled her eyes. "I mean-"

Caroline closed her mouth when her back hit the wall and Stefan took the opportunity to put his hands between it and her body to grab her hands. They began to struggle as she laughed out loud and Stefan pursed his lips not to smile, trying to maintain his offended pose.

"Caroline, for God's sake, give me the damn…"

The tip of his nose brushed hers and Caroline's laugh got lost somewhere in her throat, making her hair stand on end, her senses awakened, and feeling a very different kind of adrenaline under her skin running through her body of the one that she had felt a few minutes ago when she had run away from that guy.

She stared at the tip of his nose and Stefan dropped his gaze to her mouth, her lips slightly apart. She placed the phone against his chest quickly to put some space between them and be able to clear her throat.

"So?" she asked, trying to not reflect her nerves in the expression of her face and adopting a pose as normal as possible.  
"So what?"  
"Those photos of your phone. Have you been spying on me?" Caroline asked, pointing at him. Stefan laughed, shaking his head.  
"Caroline, you know I like to write" he said, rubbing his neck. She looked confused.  
"And?" she asked, laughing.  
"And I like art in general, of any kind."

They looked at each other in silence for a few seconds and Stefan smiled slightly before looking down to her lips again. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and continued walking, smiling when her face was not within his sight. Stefan bit the inside of his cheek, looking down, and followed her until he was standing beside her again.

"Well, before you have another hysterical attack, we were talking about the possible addresses" he said. "I think I could leave on Friday and come back on Sunday so…"

Caroline suddenly stopped and when Stefan realized that she was not next to him, he turned around.

"I?" she asked.  
"Yes, on Friday afternoon and-"  
" _I_?!"

Stefan stared at her in silence and she folded her arms.

"Caroline, I don't want Marien to get angry at me for taking you with me. Have you ever left Mystic Falls?"  
"Well, no, but I'm sure she won't mind! Or we can… make up something" she said. Stefan was the one to fold his arms this time. "I deserve to go! I was the one who suggested this research for your book, and as you say, I've never left Mystic Falls, and I want to see New York."  
"I don't know…"

Stefan turned around and kept walking. She followed him and jumped on his back, making Stefan stagger a little before regaining his balance as he chuckled.

"New York, here we come!" she exclaimed.

 _Stefan knelt on the bed and Caroline moved over the sheets, burying her fingers in her hair and giving him the perfect moment for the camera in his hands. The sound of a photo being taken made her blink several times before opening her eyes to look at him._

 _"What are you doing?" she asked with a sleepy smile.  
_ _"Capturing this moment forever" he said, looking at the photo.  
_ _"Stefan…"  
_ _"Hmm?"  
_ _"My hair looks messy, and I'm-"  
_ _"Perfect, as always" Stefan said, leaning down to brush her thigh with his lips.  
_ _"Seriously, why all these photos?" she asked, placing her hand on his shoulder._

 _He lifted his head and leaned his forehead against her stomach._

 _"Because I'm in love with you, like an idiot. Because you're art."_

* * *

 _She is free in her wildness, she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. 'Time' for her isn't something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water._  
― Roman Payne

Five minutes ago Stefan had had to look away from her quickly. He had spent the last two hours looking at her from the corner of his eye, watching her asleep as he drove, until she blinked and yawned and he had to stare at the road again.

"Oh my God" she said.  
"What?"  
"This is a mess" she muttered, spinning the map all the time. He chuckled. "Oh my God!" she reached out in front of his face to point at something. Stefan had to make a fast move with the wheel to dodge a car coming from the opposite direction after he got startled with Caroline's scream.  
"Caroline" he gritted before giving her a playful bite on the wrist so she would pull her arm away.  
"Sorry, I won't do it again, but you can see the skyscrapers in the distance!" she said, shaking his arm.  
"Marien is going to kill me if I don't take you back in one piece, you know?"

Caroline giggled, resting her head on the seat and looking through her window.

"Aren't you tired? I can drive" she said, watching the sky. It was getting dark.  
"Do you have drive permission?"  
"Hmm, no, but I'm halfway there" she said. "The practical classes begin next week."

He looked at her with raised eyebrows and she stared back at him.

"You really want to kill us" he said.  
"We should stop at a motel at least."  
"You don't want me to keep driving until we're in New York?"  
"What I want is a shower and a bed where I can sleep" she said, moving her neck.

An hour or hour and a half later, they had gotten a room in a motel in the outskirts of New York. Caroline was already tucked in bed and Stefan was lying on the sofa-bed.

She opened her eyes, without a hint of sleep in her system, and looked at Stefan, who was lying face down with his arm under the pillow. And wearing a white tank shirt that highlighted the muscles of his back, she might add.

She could not help a sigh, thinking about how confused she felt, about the mix of emotions that existed in her mind, and about how happy, despite all the previous things, being with him made her. She had never told anyone the story of her family, not even Alex, and yet it had been the easiest thing to do with him.

"Okay, what are those sighs for?" Stefan's sleepy voice asked from the couch. She gave a little jump on the bed when the sound of his voice interrupted her thoughts.  
"What?"  
"What are you thinking about?"

Caroline bit her lower lip, looking around and dying to follow her instincts. She pulled away the covers and got out of bed to flop next to him on the sofa-bed.

"Something tells me you're not sleepy" he said against the pillow.  
"That bed is uncomfortable" she complained, throwing the covers over her. Stefan turned his head toward her to look at her. She would lie if she said that that simple gesture did not make her heart race. Seeing him dishevelled, tired and with sleepy eyes was an image to which she could get used.  
"You should sleep" he said in a whisper.  
"I was thinking. Can you imagine that your book becomes popular and famous? How cool that would be?"

He smiled and closed his eyes.

"That would be great. But for that, there needs to be a book."  
"And you'll write it, but imagine it happens. Imagine you have to go on a world tour to sign books because the story of the lovers of the cemetery becomes an international success and-"  
"Caroline?"  
"What?"  
"How much coffee did you drink before going to bed?"

She laughed and pushed his shoulder. He took the opportunity to grab her wrist, pull her to him and start tickling her stomach.

"Stefan, sto-"

She started laughing and kicking, trying to escape or grab his hand, but it was impossible. He smiled because of the sound of her laugh until he dropped to her side again.

"I hate you" she said when she recovered.  
"Hey, I was just trying to find ways to work you up so that you get tired and fall asleep."

Caroline frowned, staring at the ceiling, and Stefan realized how bad his words had sounded.

"That sounded terribly wrong" he said quickly and she giggled.  
"Yes, it has."  
"I didn't meant that, I wasn't insinuating that-"  
"Stefan, I know" she said. He looked at the ceiling too, swallowed and tried not to think how good it felt when his hands touched her body, whether it was because he was tickling her, stroking her arm, holding her… It was like touching the sky, and he did not know how to stop it. He sensed the couch sinking slightly when she got closer to him to kiss him on the cheek, and his stomach became a spiral of nerves. "Good night."

Stefan was slow to react, because it was the first time that Caroline had kissed his cheek, the first time he had felt her lips against his skin. She looked carefully at her, realizing how close her body was to his, wearing those extremely short shorts, and how appealing her mouth seemed.

He ran a hand over his face and made a great effort not to sigh before getting off the couch and out of the room. He rested his arms on the railing, watching New York in the distance.

The truth is that at that moment, going back to what had been his home for 17 years or the authorship of the book were his less worrying problems. His greatest concern was in that room, sleeping soundly while he did nothing but think and think about her.

Caroline Forbes, from the day she had jumped out the window 5 months ago and who, without further ado, had become his best friend. And that was the problem, the word _friend_. Because he was beginning to doubt whether she was just a friend to him or if she meant something else.

"Your thoughts will eat you alive."

He turned, startled, and saw a man with his back against the railing, a glass in one hand and a cigar in the other. He probably was a tourist or a traveller, since he had English accent.

"Hard night, mate?" he asked, looking at him.  
"Yeah… I could say so" Stefan said, scratching his chin.  
"What is that thing that keeps you awake at this hour of the night? Or should I say who?"

Stefan bit the inside of his cheek and the guy took a sip.

"I guess."  
"Women" he said after a sigh. "They can drive us crazy. But also make us the happiest people in the world and literally even save us" he continued. "Especially when they're by our side when we need a friend, when they make us laugh, or even dance."

Stefan frowned slightly for a few seconds before looking up at him. He threw his cigar and headed to the door of his room.

"Right?"  
"I don't know. Is it possible? For a person to save another, somehow? Maybe it's too much" Stefan said.  
"Oh no, believe me, it is. I've seen it with my own eyes."

Stefan nodded thoughtfully. The guy looked at him one last time before closing the door of his room behind him. Stefan returned to his and lay back down next to Caroline without looking away from her face.

It was true. It was possible.

* * *

Caroline looked over Stefan's shoulder when he opened the door of his apartment in New York. The common rooms of the house were full of prestigious furniture and everything was placed according to a specific type of decoration.

"Home, sweet home" he murmured with irony, dropping the bags in the living room to head to his bedroom.  
"I dreamed of you last night" Caroline said, following his steps. He stopped and turned to her. "I mean, you in general. It was weird, you were in your bedroom in Mystic Falls, writing in a journal, sitting at the desk."

 _And I was in your bed, naked, and then I sat on your lap and you kissed me_ , she thought, but decided that it was better to skip that part. Because what kind of person had such dreams with her best friend? Perhaps hundreds, but she could not let that happen. She could not risk something as special as what she had with Stefan simply because she felt confused.

"Hmm" he simply said, opening the door of his bedroom.  
"Strange, considering that I've never seen your bedroom there. How am I seeing your bedroom of New York before the one in Mystic Falls?" she looked around, realizing how different it was compared with the rest of the house. There were piles of books, an electric guitar and photographs everywhere.  
"You can come to my bedroom in Mystic Falls every time you want, Caroline" he said, flopping on his bed.

She blushed a little, hiding her face, and then began walking in front of the shelves and the desk.

"So this is where we're staying tonight?" she asked, reading the titles of the books.  
"Yeah."

Caroline took a photograph in which Stefan appeared with a girl.

"Is this Sophie?" she asked.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. He rose and stood behind her to look better.

"Yes."  
"Hmm."  
"What?"  
"Nothing, she's… pretty" she said.  
"I guess."

Caroline sighed and put the photograph on the desk again before sitting down on the bed. He joined her and sat beside her, joining his hands.

"I don't get it" she finally said, breaking the silence. "How could you be with a person for years and end the relationship as if nothing had happened? As if you had never been in love with her?"  
"Because I had never been in love with her, Caroline."  
"What?" she looked at him.  
"Well, we were kids. I loved her but I never fell in love with her. It's simple."  
"Simple?" she said. "And you want to write about love?"  
"There are different kinds of love" he said, scratching his chin. "Aren't you the one who claims not to believe in love? What do you want me to do? Go back to her even if I don't feel anything for her?"

She rolled her eyes, her stare fixed on the guitar. Stefan sighed before opening his mouth to argue, but his phone buzzed at that moment. When he took it, he saw that it was an Internet alert.

"Hey, look" he said. "I got an alert that one of those Lorenzo St. Johns I found on the Internet is invited to a party in the city tonight."  
"And?"  
"Well… Sophie, her mom, usually knows about these events since she organizes many. I thought I could talk to her so she can give me more information about this… Lorenzo."  
"Why don't you tell her to give us two invitations to this party?"

He raised his eyebrows, knowing where the conversation was heading to.

"I've never been to a party here in New York, Stefan" she said, pouting. "Besides, it'd be a better idea to go there straightforward. We might see him and talk to him directly. And if you say that everything with your Sophie is okay, what's the problem anyway?"

Caroline stared at him and Stefan sighed before searching for her number in his phone.

"Text me the dress and the time, okay? If it's a formal party I have to go find a dress, shoes, a purse and-"  
"I was sure that there was a hidden reason to come to New York" he said with an amused tone. "Shopping."

She giggled after leaving the room.

 _Caroline pulled him away so that Stefan stopped kissing her and she started rambling._

 _"But sometimes I say things that I don't really need to say but I'm just scared that I'm the only one thinking them" Caroline looked at him in the eye and he raised his eyebrows.  
_ _"Reason that I'm not talking about Valerie is because I'm not thinking about Valerie" he said, staring into her eyes intently with heavy breathing. "I'm thinking about you" she smiled and he leaned his forehead against hers as she started taking off his jacket "And how you and I have had more history in the last five years" he grabbed her face with his hands and she put her arms around his neck with a little smile on her face "than most people have in a lifetime."_

 _He smiled before kissing her._

* * *

Caroline looked up at the long staircase in front of her. Of course, those parties were held in enormous museums. She was 15 minutes late, so she grabbed the hemlines of her dress and started going up.

Once inside, she saw all the paintings hanging on the walls with amazement, elegant people and women, even girls of her age also invited, wearing beautiful dresses.

"Are you lost?" a female voice asked. Caroline opened her mouth to answer that, indeed, she was, when she realized who it was.  
"Actually, I'm looking for someone" Caroline said, looking over the shoulder of the girl. She sensed Sophie's eyes analyzing her up and down.  
"Let me guess" she said. "You're Caroline."

Caroline looked at her and Sophie gave her a fake smile.

"Stefan asked me for two invitations and gave me your name for one of them. And seeing you so lost, I guess you're the one from Mystic Falls that has come with him" Sophie said. Caroline senses a tone of mockery in her voice, but she was used to those kinds of things and no girl scared her.  
"Yeah, well" she said, taking one of the wineglasses of a tray that was carrying a waiter, "we don't have these ostentatious events in Mystic Falls."  
"Yes, I imagine" Sophie said, looking around. "So, you're his new girlfriend? Because friends that take road trips to other cities together and-"  
"I'm his best friend" she said sharply before taking a sip from her glass while staring at her intently. Sophie did not avert her gaze.

Stefan finished greeting an old friend when he saw her in the distance. His feet gave several steps forward unconsciously, leading him toward her as his eyes did nothing but look at her up and down. She looked beautiful. Not that she was not always, but she had gone beyond limits. She was wearing light pink sleeveless dress, tight to her body, which opened down under her knees. And she was wearing her hair up in a bun. She was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen in his whole life.

Stefan appeared behind Sophie, interrupting what would be an unpleasant talk for sure, judging the expression of Caroline's face, and when she saw him, she looked at him with open mouth, holding back so that she would not say something that she might regret.

"Caroline, why don't you come dance with me?" he asked with a smile, tilting his head. "Hmm?"

He offered her his hand and she took it, looking intently at Sophie. Stefan guided her toward the dance floor as Sophie looked at them. He put his hand on her waist and she put hers on his shoulder. They began to move to the beat and rhythm of the slow music.

"Wow, she's so-"  
"I know" he said, unable to look away from her, a little smile on his face. "I guess you don't want me to go back to her now, right?"  
"I never said I wanted that" she said.  
"I see you found a dress" Stefan said, looking her up and down.  
"I bought it. Anyway, any progress with our mysterious writer?"  
"I've been looking and looking, but… nothing" he said, looking around. "Some people even said he isn't here despite being invited, but I don't know."

Caroline sighed, also looking around. He stared at her shoulder, tightening his fingers around her waist unconsciously.

"Hey" he said and she looked at him. "I've been thinking about our conversation this morning."  
"Stefan, I wasn't jealous, okay?" Caroline said with a nervous chuckle. He frowned at that.  
"Who said anything of jealousy?"  
"Well, isn't it what you were going to say?"  
"No" he said, but now that she mentioned it… "Maybe, if you didn't interrupt me every 30 seconds…"

She rolled her eyes and he smiled.

"I think you're scared of love because of what happened to your parents" he said.

Caroline looked at him for a moment and then lowered her gaze, a little nervous and feeling a little intimidated.

"Or maybe it's for something that happened once, or… you're just scared without knowing exactly why" he continued. "The thing is… Honestly, Caroline, I've never fallen in love either and I'm not an expert on the matter but… I mean, look at you, you're beautiful."

She looked up at him again and Stefan stared at her in silence for a few seconds, dying to kiss her.

"Inside and out" he raised their hands and made her spin before grabbing her waist again. "How are people supposed to make a move, right? That's…" Stefan moved his face closer to hers and brushed his cheek against her temple "the question. But I think someday you'll meet someone new and you'll fall madly in love, and you'll have jumped and made that move without even realizing it."

He smiled softly and looked at her. She held his gaze, thoughtful, wondering if she had not jumped already. She smiled back and looked down, staring at his neck.

"You're good at this" she said. "Dancing."  
"I don't usually do it. I hate to, but I thought I'd make an exception with you."

She laughed and Stefan remembered the words of the unknown English guy at the motel. _Especially when they're by our side when we need a friend, when they make us laugh, even dance._

"We should split" she said once the song finished.  
"What?"  
"To find the writer."  
"Oh, yeah, sure" he said. "Call me if you find him or if you need anything. Meet here in 30 minutes?"

She nodded and walked to the opposite side of the museum. Stefan followed her with his eyes for a few seconds before going to the other side. Thirty minutes later, however, he went back to the meeting point, but there was no sign of Caroline.

He began to make his way among the guests, searching in every room, until he found her in the distance. She was sitting at a table, playing poker with a lot of guys, some of them his friends and, of course, Sophie.

"Caroline?"

She looked up quickly when she heard his voice, but at doing so, she had to grab the table with her hands and close her eyes for a few seconds due to the feeling of dizziness.

"Stefan!" she exclaimed with a grin. He noticed her eyes and saw all the empty beer bottles on the table. He ran a hand over his face before looking at her again. "I'm playing poker, and turns out I'm good at it" she frowned and then giggled. "Want to play?"  
"You've drunk, right?" he asked, rubbing his neck. She covered her mouth to keep from laughing.  
"Just a little" she said, gesturing with her fingers. The others exchanged looks and Sophie looked down with a smirk on her lips.  
"Okay, well, let's go" he said, pointing at the exit with his hand.  
"What? No!" she gave him an angry look, but then she started to laugh again.

Stefan shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants and stared at her. She stared back, pouting and trying to make him feel bad. Sophie looked away, feeling out of place and uncomfortable because of the intimacy that they seemed to share.

"You should've told us that your girlfriend was so funny, Stef" Nate said, one of his friends.  
"I'm not his girlfriend" Caroline said, resting her chin in her hand, though it slipped and she had to straighten up quickly as clumsily as she could. "I don't believe in love, Nathan, it's a long story. You're Nathan, right?" she grabbed one of the beers and took another sip, staring intently at Stefan, who was looking at her with a serious face. "You should smile more, you're hot. Wow, wow, wait, did I just say that?"  
"All right, time to go" Stefan said, heading to her.  
"But I don't want to leave!" she complained. Stefan grabbed her by the waist and lifted her to throw her over his shoulder.  
"Stefan!" she shouted, laughing and kicking in the air.  
"See you guys" he said.

Caroline waved her hand as goodbye while the boys were laughing. Sophie gave her a look of disgust and Caroline gave her a fake smile.

* * *

"Oh my God, Stefan" Caroline said, laughing, as Stefan, with his left hand on her waist, led her to the door of his bedroom. "You don't know what happened to me."  
"What?" he said with all the patience he could muster.  
"I told Stefan that he's hot at the party" she giggled.  
"Yeah, I was there" he said, pursing his lips to restrain a smile. Caroline tripped over her own feet and Stefan held her in time. "Wait, I'll take you."

He bent his knees and picked her up in his arms. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, putting her arms around his neck and burying her face in it.

"You have pretty hands" she murmured against his neck. Stefan gulped, pushing the door of his room with his foot.

He lay her down gently on the bed and sat beside her, loosening his tie a little as Caroline took off her shoes with the help of her own feet. He watched her movements curiously, thinking that he had never seen someone so clumsy but so adorable.

"I feel like dying" she said, touching her cheeks. Stefan shook his head and pulled away a lock of her hair from her face. They exchanged a long look before he looked away.

Caroline rested her hand on the mattress for support and stood straight to rest her chin on his shoulder.

"Thank you for bringing me to New York" she said after releasing a sigh that made his hair stand on end. "Although, if I'm honest, I think that being here has made me realized that Mystic Falls is my home. And I think that one of the reasons why is because I met you there."

Stefan turned his face to her and looked into her eyes. She bit her lower lip with a little smile and grabbed his tie, starting to fiddle with it. Stefan glanced at her mouth and Caroline looked down, biting the inside of her cheek.

"You know? I've seen the way you look at me when you think I don't notice" Caroline said before looking up and meeting his eyes again. She took his tie off over his head and hung it around her neck, giggling, as he kept staring at her in a way that made her legs tremble. She moved her face closer to his until the tip of her nose brushed his cheek and Stefan closed his eyes to enjoy the touch of her skin against his, placing a hand on her thigh involuntarily and squeezing her skin with his fingers gently. She pressed her lips against his chin and Stefan held his breath. Even more when she moved her lips up and pressed them again against the corner of his mouth. Stefan opened his eyes and turned his face to her a little more until his nose hit hers, her mouth a millimetre away from his. Caroline stared intently at him and smiled softly. "I think it's cut-"

The word got lost in her mouth, because Stefan got rid of any space or distance between them by pressing his lips against hers. They stood completely still for a few seconds, his lips brushing slightly hers after the quick and short kiss. But then Caroline placed her hands on his neck and parted her lips so that Stefan slid his tongue into her mouth. The temperature and pace of the kiss began to rise, and it became a desperate crash of lips and touch of tongues, and a battle for leadership as Stefan covered her whole mouth with his with his hands on her face. Caroline dropped back on the bed again slowly, her head on the pillow, and Stefan dropped one of his hands to her waist as he buried the other in her hair, squeezing her curls with his fingers.

Caroline grabbed the collar of his shirt hard and pulled him to her, brushing his collarbone with her fingers. Stefan moaned into her mouth and she felt a tingle in her stomach, which made the bells of her mind ring. She held his chin with her hand and pulled him away from her gently, placing her fingers against his lips. Stefan kissed them tenderly, looking at her, and she blushed.

"Everything is spinning" she said with a giggle.  
"Are you okay?" he asked, stroking her cheek. Caroline nodded and he gave her a kiss on the forehead.  
"Good night, Stefan" she blinked slowly before closing her eyes completely. He watched her face before giving her a last good night kiss on the cheek.

 _"What an idiot" he said. Caroline could not help but let out a brief laugh.  
_ _"It wasn't his fault, actually" she said. It wasn't your fault.  
_ _"How could anyone forget someone like you?"_

 _They looked at each other for a few seconds that seemed eternal for her. She felt how her heart started beating fast when his gaze landed on her lips as he stroked her hand with his thumb. Stefan was bringing his face close to hers slowly, and he gulped. Caroline could not help but lift her other hand to place it against his chest and grip his shirt, to which he replied with a little smile, closing his eyes, and finally brushing her lips. Caroline closed her eyes too, feeling every sense of her body waking up, and asking just for one thing: him._


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER V**

 _He took my hand in his. I gasped when our skin touched and looked into his eyes in a kind of shocked wonder, my eyes wide. His hand was smooth and warm, a few degrees warmer than it should be, and that heat sank into me, but it was not his heat that made me gasp. It felt like a storm resided within his skin and the moment our hands met, the storm and heat went raging through my veins, leaving my skin tingling and my heart fluttering while also making my blush deeper. It was like heat lightning, flashes of brilliance without sound that told of an impending storm. It awakened something within me, something I did not know existed, and took my breath away. I had never felt anything like it before_.  
― Jasmine Dubroff

* * *

 _"She hates you because she doesn't hate you at all" the man said._

 _The brunette guy frowned and looked at the blonde girl, who was staring intently at the other man._

 _"Sorry are you still talking?" the brunette said with a bitter tone.  
_ _"She's got a thing for you, mate."_

 _The blonde girl looked at him with wide eyes. The brunette looked at the man with a confused look._

 _"Tell your mom I send my best" the guy left and the blonde girl seemed frozen._

 _The brunette looked down, still confused, and pursed his lips and clenched his jaw before looking at her. She looked away as soon as his eyes met hers, her mouth open without knowing what to say. She closed her mouth and looked at him, gaining courage. He looked confused and his mind seemed to be all over the place. She sighed and looked down before deciding what to say._

 _"Whatever he just said, it will never be discussed again, okay?"  
_ _"Hmm" his lips formed a thin line and he nodded._

Caroline blinked several times with a frown before opening her eyes. Those dreams were becoming more and more frequent every day that passed. She ran a hand over her face, feeling how strong the headache was, and looked around.

She rose instantly, realizing that she was in Stefan's bedroom. Her shoes were on the floor, her hair was a mess and his tie was hanging from her neck. She took it off quickly and covered her face with her hands.

"No, no, no" she said nonstop. "This hasn't happened, it hasn't happened."

She got out of bed, staggering a little, and looked at the time in her phone. It was 1pm. And then she started to get back all her memories from last night. The shopping, the party, Sophie, the dance with Stefan, the tequila and bottles of beer, the poker game with his friends, and then…

The kiss. She remembered it all, especially the kiss. She still could feel his lips pressed against hers, and his tongue battling her own. And it felt good, so good.

"Okay, calm down, Caroline Forbes, calm the fuck down" she said to herself. "This doesn't change anything. It's just a kiss."

She nodded, trying to convince herself, and left the room. The apartment was empty, there was no sign of Stefan, but he had left the breakfast ready for her on the table of the dining room. She smiled softly with a tender look, but she suddenly shook her head and closed her eyes tightly.

"Focus" she whispered. She took a deep breath and headed to the bathroom, but just when she was going to grab the knob, the door opened and Stefan appeared with a towel around his waist, no shirt or clothes, his hair wet and his chest full of water drops.

They looked at each other awkwardly without saying a thing. Caroline opened her mouth to say something but she did not know what. Stefan cleared his throat and looked down.

"Hey" he said. "Did you sleep well?" he gave her a little smile.  
"Yeah, yeah" she said. "Your bed is good."

He nodded and Caroline pointed at the bathroom.

"Uh… I'm going to…"  
"Yeah, sure" he said, passing next to her and heading to the kitchen. "Caroline?"  
"Huh?" she turned around to him.  
"I went to some of the places of the addresses this morning, before you woke up, but all of them were uninhabited" he said. "There are two left. Would you like to come with me? Once you have breakfast."  
"Okay" she nodded.

He nodded again and went into the kitchen. Caroline released the air that she had been holding and closed the door of the bathroom behind her. That had been weird, kind of. Maybe he had drunk too last night and he did not remember some things. He seemed normal, but she was very nervous and she had to fix that.

He sat in front of her to have lunch as she had her breakfast. He told her about the places that he had visited in the morning, to which she nodded but said little.

"Caroline, is everything okay?" he said after a long silence.  
"What?" she asked, raising her head. He raised his eyebrows and looked at her with a questioning look. "Yes, it's all good, it's just that I had never drunk so much and… my head still hurts."

He pursed his lips to restrain a smile and nodded.

"Are you laughing at me? Because it's not funny" she said, folding her arms.  
"You should have seen yourself at the party. Trust me, it was funny" he said, biting the inside of his cheek. She rolled her eyes. "So… You… Do you remember?"

Caroline looked at him, trying to look as indifferent and still as possible.

"Remember what?"  
"I don't know, everything about last night. I had to throw you over my shoulder and take you here. And then-"  
"Actually, I don't. Everything seems blurry" she said quickly. He looked at her with a suspicious look and she took a sip of her glass of milk.  
"Nothing?"  
"Nope" she said flatly. "Why? Did I do something embarrassing?" she looked at him, praying for him to say no or just to not remember the kiss.

He looked at her for a few seconds and then looked down at his plate.

"No, nothing apart from the normal being drunk stuff" he said.  
"Thank God" she said with a giggle as he nodded. She watched him, wondering if she was doing the right thing, when she saw something that caught her attention.

She walked over to the shelf and took the picture. She fixed her eyes on the black-haired and blue-eyed man. She frowned a little and Stefan stood behind her.

"Those are my parents" he said. "Damon is a pain in the ass."

Caroline stared at his blue eyes intently for a few seconds and then directed her gaze to the brunette woman.

"And my mom… Elena, helps him have his feet on the ground" he said.  
"Elena" she repeated in a whisper. "They seem great. They seem… familiar."  
"I can't complain" he said and she nodded, leaving the picture back in its place. "Okay, you should get dressed. We don't have much time in New York left and we have to go to the last two addresses."

* * *

 _"Haven't you noticed a spark between them? Since Enzo joined our side, they've spent a lot of time together, and the truth is that they could, I don't know, have a date?"  
_ _"But… He's Enzo."  
_ _"Are you going to help me or not?"  
_ _"Don't you think that they're the ones who should-?"  
_ _"Ugh" Caroline grabbed his face and gave him a quick peak to not let him talk. "Never mind, I'll manage."_

 _She climbed the steps of the porch of her house and Stefan looked at her, amused._

 _"Your changes of mood will drive me crazy" he said, climbing the steps. Caroline laughed and turned around to put her arms around his neck.  
_ _"Thanks for the walk" she said. Stefan smiled and put his hands on her waist. "And for the dinner, and the ice cream, and-"_

 _Her words vanished in the air, as Stefan pressed his lips against her mouth. Her back hit the door and they both smiled as he parted her lips with his tongue. Caroline looked for the knob of the door with her hand to open it and they headed toward the stairs as they undressed each other._

 _"Wait, wait" she said, putting her hands on his chest once their shirts were on the floor.  
_ _"What?" he said, kissing her neck. Caroline bit her lower lip and pulled him away gently. He looked at her, frustrated.  
_ _"We have to talk about this" she said.  
_ _"About Enzo and Bonnie? Right now?" he said before pressing her lips against hers._

 _She smiled against his mouth and he grabbed her waist so that she would wrap his waist with her legs._

 _"Ahem."_

 _Caroline pulled Stefan away by spreading her hand all over his face and she looked behind. Bonnie had just gotten out of the kitchen; she was eating an apple._

 _"Oh, hi, Bonnie" Caroline said with a giggle as Stefan left her on the ground. Bonnie waved her hand, shaking her head._

 _Stefan and Caroline picked up their shirts quickly to put them on again. Caroline grabbed Bonnie's wrist and led her to the couch, where they sat. Stefan flopped on it as well and turned on the TV._

 _"Guess who has asked me about you" Caroline said to Bonnie.  
_ _"Who?"  
_ _"Enzo" Caroline said with a smirk, raising her eyebrows. Stefan looked at Caroline askance. "I think he has a thing for you. Right, Stefan?"_

 _Stefan looked at her with a questioning look and Caroline widened her eyes. Bonnie looked at Stefan, waiting for a reply._

 _"Uh… Well, yes" Stefan said, unable to believe that Caroline was making him her accomplice. "He said you're… cute."_

 _Bonnie frowned and Caroline smiled at him._

 _"He also said that you're one of the best people in this group, always trying to help others and… that kind of stuff" he said._

 _Caroline suddenly jumped on him, making Bonnie fall off the couch._

 _"You're the best boyfriend" she told him. Bonnie looked at them from the ground with a boring look.  
_ _"You guys make me sick."_

 _Caroline giggled and kissed Stefan, who put his arms around her waist._

Stefan rang the bell for the fifth time and Caroline looked at him. She had her back against the wall and her arms folded.

"Stefan, there's no one in there" she said.  
"I just can't believe we came to New York for nothing" he said, looking at the door. She looked down and he looked at her from the corner of his eye for a few seconds. "Kind of."  
"Kind of?" she said, raising her head.  
"Can I help you?"

Caroline looked at her left and saw the guy with hood that had followed her a week ago.

"Hey! That's who was following me the other day!" she said, pointing at him. Stefan placed himself in front of Caroline instantly.  
"Stand behind me."  
"Oh, come on" the guy took off the hood and Stefan frowned at him.  
"You" Stefan said with a confused look.  
"Wait, you know each other?" Caroline asked.  
"I met him at the motel. Are you following us?"

Enzo looked down, smiling, and headed to the door. He entered the apartment and Stefan and Caroline followed him without asking. Enzo flopped on the couch and Stefan looked around, realizing that the house seemed to have been empty for years. Caroline was still watching Enzo carefully, and got startled when he looked back at her.

 _And it hurt to see how others were happy, how others loved each other, while the only thing she could do was cling to a memory. But she made an effort, and raised her head a little to meet Enzo's gaze. She smiled at him slightly, despite the sadness in her eyes, and Enzo returned the same kind of smile with a little nod. He knew that she was happy for them even if she could not say it with words._

"Incredible" he murmured.  
"What?" she asked.

Enzo shook his head.

"Why were you following me the other day?" she asked with narrowed eyes.  
"I thought… you were someone else" Enzo said, looking down.  
"So, you're the writer?" Stefan asked, sitting down in the opposite couch.  
"Oh, I get it now" Enzo said. "Of course" he laughed. "You're looking for the book. Look, I'm afraid those books had to be removed from the market. Long story."  
"Why?" Caroline asked, folding her arms. Enzo looked at her for a few seconds before leading his gaze to Stefan.  
"Ask your father" he finally said.

Stefan and Caroline exchanged a confused look.

"My father?" he asked.  
"Wait, wait a second" Caroline interrupted. "The book has like, what, twenty years?"  
"Uh-huh" Enzo said, looking at her with amusement.  
"How old were you when you wrote it?"  
"Thirty, technically" he said with an amused smile.  
"So you're fifty now" she said.  
"Yes."

Caroline frowned even more and Enzo kept looking at her, enjoying the situation. Caroline looked at Stefan, but he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, ignoring the current conversation.

"What has my father have to do with any of this?" Stefan asked.  
"Wait, I have an important question to ask" she said, waving her hand at Stefan. He looked at her with interest. "What kind of moisturizer do you use?" she asked Enzo with the most serious face in the world.  
"Jesus, Caroline" Stefan said, running a hand over his face. Enzo chuckled.  
"What?" she asked, offended.  
"You're just like her" Enzo murmured.

Caroline and Stefan exchanged another confused look and she made a gesture that suggested that Enzo was crazy.

"Look, kid" Enzo said, looking at Stefan. "If you want that book, you'll have to ask Damon about it. He was the one who made sure that they were removed from the market. I can't help you."  
"You know my dad?"  
"We're old friends."

Stefan looked at Enzo with interest, dying to ask him a million questions, but deep down he knew that even if he asked, he would probably not answer them.

"We should go" Stefan said, pointed at the door with his head. Caroline nodded and followed him.  
"Ask your father, Stefan" Enzo repeated when Stefan opened the door. "And ask him about his brother too."

Stefan nodded and they closed the door behind them. Enzo then looked at the picture on the coffee table. Bonnie was smiling in that dance where they kissed for the first time. Enzo smiled a little, nodding.

"You'd be happy" he said. "So happy."

 _Damon clenched his jaw, looking around._

 _"Nonsense" he said.  
_ _"I'm telling you what she wrote to me, Damon. I don't know if it's possible or not, but she believed it could work out."_

 _Damon looked at him with a scowl._

 _"Listen, featherbrain, Bonnie herself said years, years ago that it was impossible" Damon said. "The other side doesn't exist, nothing exists, Stefan and Caroline died. Period."_

 _Enzo looked at him, motionless._

 _"She asked me to let go after my brother died and that's what I did."  
_ _"You know that she was working on something."  
_ _"She was because she felt guilty for Caroline, but she knew she wouldn't get anywhere. Dead means dead."  
_ _"Like you? Like me? We died and went back to life, remember?"_

 _Damon grabbed Enzo by the collar of his shirt and looked at him with pursed lips and a crazy look._

 _"Stop it" he said. "I'm not going to do this again, you understand me? It's over, it was over years ago."  
_ _"Don't you think it's weird that your son is a replica of Stefan?" Enzo said. Damon looked at him intently and then released him, looking away.  
_ _"That's just because destiny, fate, is a bitch" Damon said. "And it's making sure that I don't screw it up in my second chance. I failed my brother, I couldn't save him, and I couldn't keep the love of his life safe either."_

 _Damon looked at the box of books next to him._

 _"And I'm not in the mood to see people all over the world reading my mistakes again, thank you."  
_ _"It's not about you, Damon" Enzo said. "This is what Bonnie wanted. She wanted their story to be written. There must be a reason why, she wouldn't just-"  
_ _"I'm leaving, with the books" Damon interrupted him. "Stefan shouldn't find any of this crap. It was enough to see it with my own eyes" he raised the box in his hands and headed to the door, looking askance at Bonnie's picture on the coffee table. "Do yourself a favour and forget about Bonnie's last death wish, she was just tired. Oh, and it'd be a good idea if you don't go back to Mystic Falls very often. There's nothing from our old lives left there anymore after all."_

 _Damon closed the door with a slam._

* * *

 _"What's this?" he asked, picking up one of the journals. Stefan turned to him and looked at him suspiciously. "Are you writing again?"  
_ _"Leave that where it was. I gotta go or they'll suspect. And do me a favor, keep them stored here, can you at least do that?"  
_ _"Dear diary: that day, Caroline…"  
_ _"Damon, stop" Stefan snatched the journal from his hands and put it in the drawer, but Damon took another and opened it.  
_ _"Caroline helped me control the bloodlust, she said…"  
_ _"Damon, I said stop" Stefan grabbed the second journal, put it in the drawer and closed it with a slam. "Don't read them, don't open the boxes, and don't take them out, okay?"_

Stefan walked over to the living room in silent, hearing Damon and Elena's voices in there. He stood behind the wall, leaning his back against the stone, and listened carefully.

"You should have told me that you had taken the journals away and that you had stored them somewhere else" Elena said.  
"I didn't want to bother you" Damon said.  
"Did you read them?"

Damon kept silent for a few seconds and Elena looked at him with a questioning look.

"Why do you think I read them just because I put them somewhere else?" he asked.  
"Well, I remember perfectly well all the times you came to Mystic Falls while we were living in New York, Damon" she said. "Your short trips had a purpose, didn't they? You came back to read those journals so many times… It's not healthy."  
"No, it's not" Damon said, looking at the fire in the fireplace.  
"Where are they now?"  
"In a safe place, don't worry" he said.

Stefan frowned, took a deep breath and came out of his hidden place, clearing his throat to make his presence noticeable. Elena and Damon looked behind and Stefan waved with a little smile.

"Hey" Elena said. "When did you arrive?"  
"Just did" Stefan said, sitting down on one of the armchairs.  
"How was New York? Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked.  
"No, but I'm closer than before at least" Stefan said, looking at Damon askance.

Stefan thought of asking about the book, about that unknown uncle, his brother. But he knew his father enough to know that he would not get an answer so easily. He was determined to find the truth about everything, about the book, about his uncle. He had a real mystery in his hands and he was not going to let go the opportunity to discover the truth. He needed to start somewhere, and something told him that maybe those journals and the locked bedroom of the house were a good option.

* * *

Caroline left her bike carefully on the ground and looked up. The Salvatore house was enormous and intimidating. She watched the façade with interest until her eyes stopped on one of the windows. She frowned at the thought of seeing a shadow in the bedroom and her feet gave an involuntary step ahead, feeling how her heart started to race.

"Ahem."

She got startled and looked at her right. Stefan was resting his arms on the frame of the window of his bedroom, watching her with a grin.

 _Caroline got out of the car and walked toward the front door, but then she remembered that she had forgotten the bag with Thai food inside of it. She turned around and opened the door of the car to crouch and lean forward to catch it._

 _"Ahem."_

 _Caroline smiled, reached out and grabbed the bag. When she turned around, she saw Stefan leaning his arms on the frame of the window, watching her with a grin._

 _"What are you doing there?" she asked, closing the door of the car.  
_ _"Waiting for you, and watching you" he said without beating around the bush._

 _Caroline raised her eyebrows and nodded, trying not to smile._

 _"Come up" he said, pointing at his bedroom with his head._

 _She got there in less than a minute and jumped on him, making him fall on the bed, she on top of him while kissing his lips nonstop._

 _"Caroline" he said, chuckling and in between her kisses.  
_ _"No talking" she said, biting his lower lip with her teeth.  
_ _"But-"_

 _She covered his mouth with her hand and started kissing his chin and neck in a very seductive way._

 _"Oh, come on! For God's sake blondie."_

 _Caroline looked towards the door of the bathroom and Stefan started to laugh against her hand. Damon shook his head at her and she pursed her lips, sitting next to Stefan and pulling up the strap of her top._

 _"Don't you have your own bathroom, Damon?" she asked with gritted teeth and a fake smile.  
_ _"I do, but I had a problem with the bathtub, remember? The one where you two took a hot, romantic bath while I was in my road trip with Enzo. The one you two broke down because you didn't know how to use it and all the room was flooded with water, Carebear. And now I have to use this one. Something that wouldn't have to happen if you two wouldn't have broken my-"  
_ _"I get it, Damon. But this is our bedroom, our territory" Caroline said, waving around. Stefan pursed his lips to restrain a smile. Their fights were always hilarious and fun.  
_ _"Excuse me, your bedroom? When did you move out here? Because I don't recall."  
_ _"Well, I'm planning to" she said.  
_ _"Oh, no, no, no. No way, blondie. I have enough seeing you almost every single day of my existence. You're not moving out."  
_ _"Uh, yes, I am?"  
_ _"No, you aren't?"  
_ _"Yes, she is, Damon" Stefan said with a smirk.  
_ _"I would kill myself if I had to share the house with this crazypants, Stefan. I'm not in the mood to have the entire house redecorated" he muttered. "No offense, blondie. You're my brother's girlfriend, okay, but that doesn't mean I have to coexist with you 24/7."  
_ _"Shut up, Damon" Stefan said with an amused look. "You love when Caroline comes and she's the only one agreeing to play video games with you."_

 _Caroline looked at Damon with raised eyebrows, feeling victorious already, and he glared at Stefan._

"What are you doing there?" she asked.  
"Waiting for you" he said looking her up and down. "I've been waiting for you 24 minutes and 17 seconds."

She looked at him with raised eyebrows and he chuckled.

"Come here" he said, pointing at his bedroom with his head. "The door is open."

That is what she did. She entered the house, looking around and watching everything in awe, and she went upstairs until she found Stefan's bedroom.

"This house is huge" she said, looking at the notice board on the wall. "You have a picture of me?"  
"Aren't you my best friend?" he said, resting his arm on her shoulder. Caroline looked at him.  
"So, your parents are out of town this weekend?" she asked, walking over to the desk. He nodded and put his hand under the pillow, looking for something. Caroline saw an old and worn-out book and took it to read the title: _Norwegian Wood_. "This is what you're reading now?"  
"I finished it already" he said, with keys in his hand. "I found it here and it was full of notes and underlined sentences, and the quotes are great."

Caroline looked at him with a little smile on her face. She liked it when he talked so passionately about something.

"Take it" he said.  
"What?"  
"I think you might like it" he said. "I'd like you to read it, or at least those underlined sentences. Some of them remind me of you."

She bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head.

"Always so poetic, Stefan" she said with a smile.  
"Hey, I'm a writer" he said. "Now that you're here, we can start. I've got the keys."  
"Where did you find them?"  
"Easy, my parents' bedroom. My dad isn't very careful."

They were standing in front of the locked door 2 minutes later. Stefan tried every single until one of them opened the door. He let Caroline enter first and she walked towards the middle of the room. She gripped the book against her chest and looked around. It was obvious that no one had been there for years. The books on the shelves were covered with a thin layer of dust. The bed was intact, and the sheets had no wrinkles. Stefan watched the room from the doorway with interest.

Caroline walked backwards involuntarily until her back hit the edge of the desk. She jumped at feeling startled and her book fell from her hands to the ground. The sound of familiar laughs filled her ears and she felt so dizzy that she had to grab the edges of the desk. Stefan realized and walked over to her fast to hold her.

 _"Stefan?" she asked in a whisper, looking around._

 _But there was no answer. There was no one there. No one had been there for months. The books on the shelves were covered with a thin layer of dust. The bed was intact, and the sheets had no wrinkles._

 _She stepped back and her back hit his desk. She had to grab the edges of the table at believing that she was hearing their laughs that day that they spent in bed. Talking, touching, undressing._

 _"No, no" she said in a whisper._

 _The sound of their laughs filled her ears and she dropped to the ground slowly, shutting her eyes, covering her ears with her hands to stop listening._

"Hey, Caroline" he said. She opened her eyes and grabbed his arms to hold on. "Hey…" he caressed her hair to soothe her. "Are you okay?"  
"Yes, I just" she swallowed and took a deep breath.  
"Do you feel well? I can take you to the hospital or home. I can-"  
"I'm fine" she said, straightening. "It was just some dizziness, I've been stressed over my exams lately. But I'm good."  
"You sure?"  
"Yes, Stefan" she said with a smile. "I'm fine." He had his hand on her cheek and he was looking at her with a worried face. She realized how close they were, how intimate they seemed to be. "Let's look around and try to find something that can help us."

He nodded and released her. She started to look at the shelves as he did the same with the desk, though without looking away from her. They spent several minutes searching and searching. Stefan opened a drawer and found a school certificate from years ago. He started reading it as Caroline found a journal under a pile of shirts in the wardrobe.

"Hmm, so apparently this is the high school certificate of my uncle, whose name is also Stefan" he mumbled. "I always wondered why my parents called my like this, I guess I do know now."

Caroline opened the journal but it was blank, except for the first page.

"He went to Mystic Falls high school as well, so he had to live here. This is his bedroom. How haven't my parents told me about him? He's my uncle."  
"I don't know, maybe your dad and your uncle didn't get along, or had a fight, you know? Those kinds of things that happen in families" Caroline said a little distracted. She was staring at the first page of the journal. There was a ring drawn. A beautiful ring that seemed very familiar.  
"Yeah, maybe" Stefan said. "You know? Maybe we should check the records of the high school. There might be something in the archives, or photos. I wonder what my dad did with all those journals he and my mom were talking about the other day. I guess my uncle used to write too."

Caroline had her gaze fixed on the ring, and she was almost sure that she had seen it somewhere else. Stefan looked around, thoughtful, until his eyes stopped on a jewelry box on the desk. He approached it with a curious and interested look. Caroline looked at him from the corner of her eye as she stripped off the page of the journal and hid it between the pages of _Norwegian Wood_.

"I wouldn't do that" she told him when he was about to touch the jewelry box. He looked at her with a questioning look. "That box is covered with dust."  
"Isn't everything covered with dust?"  
"Yes, but it's very easy to see clean fingertips or tracks there than in a wardrobe or any other thing here. Everyone would check the jewelry box. Especially if it has jewels inside."

Stefan looked at her with a little smile.

"What?" she asked.  
"You're smart, and cute" he said.

They stared at each other for a while until she shook her head, smiling.

"There's nothing in here, Stefan" Caroline said, closing the wardrobe. "This bedroom isn't helpful at all. We should try to find those journals, wherever they are."

Stefan nodded and walked over to her.

"You're right."  
"I am?"  
"Yes, it's annoying as hell, but you usually are."

Caroline smiled, pleased and satisfied.

"Okay, let's go" Stefan bent slightly to pick Caroline up in his arms.  
"What are you doing?" she asked, laughing.  
"You've almost fainted… straight into my arms, so I'm going to take care of you and drive you home. And, by the way, if you wanted my attention you didn't have to go to such extremes."  
"You're such a jerk."

* * *

 _"He had bought that ring that she had seen at the shop window once, and she was just finding the box with the ring hidden in his wardrobe" Marien read to a 10 year old Caroline. She was sitting on the edge of the couch, impatient. "He had planned to ask her to marry him, as she always wanted."  
"This is so sad" Caroline said, looking away.  
"Why?" Marien asked, looking up from the book.  
"Because he's missing, and she doesn't even know if she's going to find him or see him ever again. He loved her so much, he wanted to marry her and be with her forever, and yet he had to give her up to keep her safe, but that meant not being able to be with her. It's sad" she repeated.  
"But isn't it beautiful how much they loved each other, Care?" Marien asked. Caroline looked at her aunt and after thinking about it for a few seconds, she nodded.  
"Yes" she said. "I'm sure it was the ring of her dreams" she sighed. "I hope someone loves me as much as he loved her one day."_

 _Marien smiled tenderly at her and closed the book. She shoved her hand in the pocket of her shirt and showed her a ring hanging from a neck chain, as if it was a necklace._

 _"Look, it was very similar to this one."_

 _Caroline looked at the ring with her mouth open, in awe and amazed by it. It was a beautiful jewel._

 _"It's beautiful" Caroline said.  
_ _"Do you like it?" Marien asked. She nodded frantically and her aunt smiled. "You can keep it."  
_ _"Really?"  
_ _"Really" Marien said, putting the necklace around her neck._

 _Caroline took the ring in her hand and looked at it with a smile on her face._

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to your bedroom?" Stefan asked on the porch.  
"You're such a pain in the ass" she said, laughing, and pushed his shoulder. "I'm fine."  
"Promise that you'll call me if you need me."  
"I will" she said.

He nodded and shoved the hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"I have to go inside" Caroline said, pointing at the door. "Marien must be waiting for me to have dinner."  
"Okay" he said.  
"Thank you for the book" she said, waving _Norwegian Wood_ in her hand. "I'll start reading it tonight."  
"Good."

Caroline looked at him in silence for a few seconds and then pressed her lips against his cheek slowly. Stefan stood still, he had not expected that, especially not since the night in New York.

"Thank you for bringing me home" Caroline said with a little and tender smile. Stefan gulped and nodded, looking into her eyes. "Good night."

She turned around but Stefan took her hand quickly.

"Wait" he said. Caroline looked down at their hands, at the way his little finger had hooked hers.

 _"And for just… not treating me like a crazy person because that's how I've felt these past few days-"_

 _Stefan took his hand in his and stroked its back. Caroline held the air in her throat, looking at their joined hands, at the way he was calming her down just with a simple touch. He smiled at her, staring at her with tender eyes, and she smiled back, releasing the air that she had been holding._

 _She looked up at him._

 _"So thank you."_

 _Stefan looked at her so intensely that she could not help but smile again, looking down. She had not been this nervous in years, and he was wondering if she felt the same butterflies that he was feeling in his stomach in that precise moment._

He looked at their hands too, realizing how good that simple gesture felt. He might spend his whole life touching her, he would never get tired of it. Caroline felt a tingle in her stomach and looked up at him.

"Uh…" he cleared his throat and thought about releasing her hand, but he did not want to, and he did not care about how weird it might look at all. On the contrary, he hooked his finger around hers even more tightly and started swinging their hands. "So, let's look in the archives of the high school on Monday?" he asked.

She nodded with a soft smile.

"Okay" he said with a wide, happy smile. He kissed her forehead and smiled at her again before releasing her hand and turning around. "Night."  
"Night" she said in a whisper, watching him walk away.

She realized how tightly was holding the book in her hand and tried to calm down, but she could not help but bit her lower lip and smile like an idiot when he disappeared at the end of the street. She covered her face with her hands, laughing, shaking her head, and turned around. Marien was looking at her through the window, with her arms folded and a smirk on her face.

Caroline's smile vanished quickly and she got serious instantly. She cleared her throat once she was inside.

"So" Marien said.  
"So?"  
"Everything good?" her aunt asked.  
"Yeah, why?"

Marien shrugged with an amused smile.

"Oh, come on" Caroline said, starting to climb the stairs.  
"There's nothing wrong with falling in love for the first time, Care."  
"I'm not falling in love, okay?"  
"Your smile and look say another completely different thing. I can't blame you, he's cute."  
"He's a friend, my best friend, it's very different. No romantic feelings involved" she said from the first floor.  
"If you say so!"

Caroline closed the door of her bedroom behind her and sighed. Once she was calm, she opened the book and unfolded the paper of the drawing. She walked over to her bedside table, very distracted, and opened the drawer. Her finger hooked the chain and she picked up the necklace. The ring, the very same ring, was hanging from it.

 _She was about to close the drawer when she saw something that made her heart stop for a few seconds. She reached out and took the little blue box. And when she opened it, she could not help but sit down on the bed, watching the so familiar ring._

 _Caroline touched the ring with her index finger, torn between laughing or crying. Stefan was going to ask her to marry him, and she was finding out about it almost two years later._

 _"Okay, blondie, it's time to get down to business and for you to leave Crazyland after a year and a half of continuous madness" Damon entered the room with the phone in his hand and Caroline tried to stood straight._

 _She cleared her throat and tucked her hair behind her ear, standing up and heading to the drawer._

 _"What do you have there?" Damon asked, worried, and ran to her to snatch whatever she had from her hands.  
_ _"Damon!"  
_ _"What…?" his face relaxed a little when he saw that it was not a journal, but he could not help but be surprised to see an engagement ring. "Oh."_

 _Caroline snatched it from his hands and put it in the drawer._

 _"Apparently, we'll be family, Caroline Salvatore."_


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER VI**

 _If I asked you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you. Who could rescue you from the depths of hell._

Stefan pushed the door and walked down the hallway of high school with his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans as he listened to the music of his phone with his earphones.

He stopped suddenly when he saw something from the corner of his eye. He turned off the music and approached the door to look through the glass. Caroline was there, in the music room, and she was singing. Stefan listened carefully, paying all his attention, and looked at her open-mouthed as she sang. The sound of her voice singing clouded his senses, and he could not look away from her face, from her closed eyes, from her open mouth and from the way she fiddled with her hands.

It was like seeing an angel, and he suddenly felt as if he had found himself after years and years of being lost. He felt vulnerable and strong at the same time. He found himself opening the door and pulling his feet towards her.

She opened her eyes at the sound of his steps and stopped for a few seconds. He smiled, sitting on a table and she continued until the song ended. She cleared her throat and smiled.

"And?"  
"And?" he said, still feeling a little overwhelmed.  
"How was it?"

Stefan looked at her in silence and Caroline realized the intensity of his look. She looked down and he jumped off the table to walk over to her. He took the paper with the lyrics of the song from her hand and looked at it.

"What's all this for?" he asked.  
"I'm going to do an audition, for the school" she said. Stefan looked at her and she snorted. "But, I don't know" she winced and turned around, covering her face with her hands. "I usually sing, in the shower" she turned back to him and he raised his eyebrows. "But I've never done it in front of so many people, and what if I do it wrong? What if I forget my line or the lyrics, Stefan?" she looked at him with wide eyes.  
"Caroline."  
"No, really, what if I fall or-"

Stefan covered her mouth with his hand and looked into her eyes. She looked back at him, frozen.

"You can't do it wrong" he said. "You'd never do it wrong."

Stefan let his hand drop, brushing her lips with his fingers, and then cupped her cheek with it.

"You're perfect."

Caroline looked into his eyes for two seconds before dropping her gaze to his lips.

"Okay, guys. I've been checking the schedule of the librarians and you have 20 minutes to check the restricted area" Alex had entered the room, reading the paper with the schedule in her hands.

Caroline pulled away and looked at Alex with a nervous smile and Stefan pursed his lips, looking down. Alex looked up at them with a questioning look.

"So? Are you going to check the old records or…?"  
"Yes, thank you, Alex" Stefan said, grabbing Caroline's bag. "Come on" he told her, and she followed him, still fiddling with her hands.

* * *

 _It's because of you when I'm in bed in the morning that I can wind my spring and tell myself I have to live another good day.  
_ ―Haruki Murakami

Stefan knocked on the door and peeked out behind it. Caroline looked up from the book at him.

"Hey."  
"Hey" he said, closing the door behind him. He walked over to the bed and flopped onto her side, resting the head on the pillow. "Marien let me in."

Caroline nodded and looked at the pages of _Norwegian Wood_ again. Stefan raised his head a little to watch her from the pillow. Her back was resting against the headboard and the strap of her top had slid to her arm. She was biting her lower lip and had a frown in her forehead due to the concentration on the book. Caroline turned the page and he sighed, looking at the book.

"Reading again, huh?" he asked, looking at her.  
"It's a good one" she admitted. Stefan turned around and leaned on his elbow to have a better look of her. "The narrative is good, and you were right, the quotes are great. And it's not only about the book itself, but this thing of two people reading it and underlining sentences intrigues me so much."

 _"Are you reading that again?" Caroline asked, looking at him with only one eye open. She had just woken up and Stefan had Norwegian Blues back in his hands.  
_ _"Mm, no?" Stefan asked quizzically, and turned a page. Caroline leaned on her elbow and stared at him. She liked watching him read.  
_ _"What does it have for you to have read it so many times?" she asked. Stefan shrugged.  
_ _"I don't know… The narrative is good, and there are so many quotes to highlight" he explained.  
_ _"Well, then…" Caroline dropped her head on the pillow and placed a hand on his wrist. "Read me one that reminds you of me" she said with a wide smile._

Stefan looked at her in awe and dropped his head on the pillow.

"Well, read me one. Your favourite one until now. One that reminds you of someone or one that is special to you" he said.

Caroline looked away from the book to look at him. He was giving her one of those soft tender smiles that melted her heart.

 _Stefan looked away from the book to look at her and realized that that smile could light up the whole world if she wanted to. Always positive, cheerful. Always Caroline._

 _"Um, okay, let me see…" Stefan frowned as he looked among letters and paragraphs until he found a sentence. "'I want you always to remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?'."  
_ _"Stefan, I said one that reminds you of me, not the other way round!" she folded her arms.  
_ _"This one reminds me of you, Caroline" Stefan put the book on the bed to unfold her arms. "Because if you don't remember me, then what am I?"_

Caroline sighed and started to turn the pages.

"Let me find it…" she frowned as she looked for it until she found the sentence, one that was already underlined. "What about this one, _I want you to always remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?_ "

Stefan smiled softly and looked down. He then started to chuckle and she looked at him with a frown.

"What?" she asked.  
"It's one of my favourites too" he said. "And, for the record, I'd never be able to forget you. I think I'll always remember you."

 _She looked into his eyes and Stefan smiled sweetly, bringing his face close to hers until he brushed her lips. Caroline put her hand on his neck and her lips parted with a sigh. Stefan, the eternal romantic._

 _"So" he after breaking the kiss. "Will you remember me or not?"  
_ _"I doubt I'd be able to forget you" she said with another sigh, staring at his deep green eyes._

Caroline looked into his eyes and he smiled sweetly, bringing his face close to hers until he brushed her cheek with his lips. She closed her eyes and held her breathing.

"Why?" she asked in a whisper. He pulled his face away and they exchanged a look. He shook his head and shrugged.  
"Because you're such an inspiration, Caroline" he smiled softly and she could not help but smile as well. "Because you've brought me back to life."

Caroline looked down with that proud little smile as he stared intently at her.

"Stefan! Could you help me with the cake?!" Marien asked from the kitchen.

Stefan looked down and sighed and Caroline looked at him with a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry, she can be very bossy sometimes" she said with a giggle.  
"Not that I'm not used to it" he said and bit her arm playfully. She laughed and followed him with her eyes as he left the bedroom.

She looked down at the book again and realized that she was on page 350.

" _I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning_ " she read, still with the image of Stefan smiling in her mind.

She was about to close the book when she saw something that caught her attention. She frowned and brought the book closer to her face. She turned the book, putting it downwards and squinted to try to read what was written with light pencil, almost erased. It was the address of a house, in Mystic Falls.

They had not found anything in high school, and they were starting to lose hope about finding the book with the story of the lovers of the cemetery, but maybe that was a hint that could lead them somewhere else.

 _Damon knocked on the open door, but Bonnie did not look up from the book._

 _"Bonnie, no offense, but I'd like to keep this bedroom close as well."_

 _This time, she looked at him over her shoulder._

 _"Damon, you just can't do-"  
_ _"I can, because it's my house."  
_ _"It's the only remaining memory that I have of her, Damon" she said with a sharp look. "I get that you want to forget and leave them behind and cover your pain, but I just lost my best friend too."_

 _Damon looked away in silence._

 _"Let me stay here, at least until I finish the book."  
_ _"Why are you reading that book, anyway? Didn't you say that it was driving Carebe-" Damon froze a little and then cleared his throat, "Caroline" he corrected "crazy and that it wasn't good that she was carrying it with her everywhere?"  
_ _"Yes, I did. But it helps me remember her, and understand her."_

 _Damon rolled his eyes and turned to the door again._

 _"Sure. Close the door when you're done."_

 _Bonnie followed him with her eyes until he disappeared from her sight. She took the pencil again and kept writing._

* * *

 _A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other… Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever._

The bell of the door rang and rang constantly and Caroline opened the door and was about to yell at whoever was being so impatient when she realized it was Stefan.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked.

Stefan handed her a small package that he had been hiding behind his back and she grabbed it, confused.

"It's not my birthday" she said with the gift in her hands.  
"I know, and I know it's been three months since Christmas, but since you got so mad at me for not buying you anything…"

She looked up from the gift to look at him, containing the urge to roll her eyes and to smile.

"Hmm, should I open it? You forgot about Christmas, so I don't know if you'll be a good gift giver."  
"Just… open it."

Caroline unwrapped the gift and opened the box to grab the small snow globe.

 _"It's not my birthday" Caroline said with the gift in her hands.  
_ _"Can't a guy give a friend a gift even if it's not their birthday?" Stefan asked._

 _She looked up from the gift to look at him, containing the urge to roll her eyes and to smile. Stefan repeated the word 'friend' and 'friendship' so many times that she was sure that if he did so, it was because he had to remind himself that he had to keep control._

 _Although she should remember that as well, because she could not stop thinking about how good he looked with that white t-shirt and those tight jeans._

 _"I don't know, Stefan, the truth is that I'm scared of opening your gifts after Secret Santa" she mockingly said. Stefan narrowed his eyes, watching her. She bit the inside of her cheek and shrugged, trying not to laugh.  
_ _"Open it and shut up" he said._

 _Caroline unwrapped the gift and opened the box to take a bike helmet._

 _"Mm, thanks?" she said, a little confused. "But I don't drive any bike."  
_ _"But I do. I came with it. I was wondering if… you wanted to have a ride, with me."_

 _Caroline looked at him and could feel his nervousness. Adorable. She bit her lip, smiling, and looked at the helmet._

 _"But, where's yours? Or you don't want to mess your hair after hours and hours of doing it?" she asked innocently. Stefan looked at her with narrowed eyes again and stepped toward her.  
_ _"Stop" he touched her stomach with his finger, tickling her "being…"  
_ _"Stefan!" Caroline said, trying to pull him away. But it was impossible, and her back hit the wall.  
_ _"… so annoying and put the damn helmet on, Caroline."_

 _She pushed her hand away, laughing, and when she looked into his eyes, she realized how close he was. Dangerously close._

 _"So…" Stefan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and Caroline swallowed. "Are you coming?"_

 _She nodded. Because she would never say no to him._

"Hmm, what's this?" she asked.  
"It's a snow globe of Mystic Falls, with snowflakes inside. It's a Christmas present. Isn't this what you wanted?"

Caroline looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he looked at her with a questioning look.

"Really, Stefan?" she said.  
"What?"  
"You're the worst gift giver ever."

Stefan rolled his eyes and took her hand to pull her to the porch.

"What are we doing now?"  
"That's not the only present I've got."  
"Oh, no."

He pointed at his car, parked in front of her house. Caroline opened her mouth and looked at him, surprised.

"What?! Really?" she said and jumped on him to hug him. "You're so generous, you shouldn't have! I mean, it's your car, I can't accept it, it's too much."

Stefan looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Caroline, not the car. I'm letting you drive it so you can practice for your drive lessons and exam, though."  
"Oh" she said. "Right" she giggled and he shook his head.

He froze when he felt her lips against his cheek.

"You're the best bo-" he looked at her automatically and she corrected herself quickly. "Friend, friend" she said. "You're the best friend in the world" she giggled nervously and then cleared her throat as she headed to the car.

He followed her with his eyes and an intriguing expression in his face.

* * *

 _"No, I… I can't" she said. "I tried" she rolled her eyes and let out a weak laugh. "I still try. Because if was able to hate him, everything would be easier. But I can't."_

 _Caroline looked away, blinking several times. She did not want to cry in front of anyone, especially not in front of Damon. He nodded._

 _"Why did you let him go?" she said with a hint of anger and frustration in her voice. Caroline did not want to fight again, not after he had offered to help at home, but she could not help feeling resentment against him.  
_ _"Because he didn't let me stop him" Damon hissed._

 _Caroline nodded with a hard face, rose, and went back into the house, slamming the door behind her. Damon did not even flinch, he had got used to it._

Caroline left the bike on the ground and stared ahead. She checked for the last time the address that she had written down, copying it from the one that was written on the page of _Norwegian Wood_. It was the same street and the same number, so that had to be the house.

She climbed the steps of the porch, brushing the banister, which was covered with dust, with her fingertips. The floor of the porch creaked when she stepped on it. She watched the door, covered with some wooden loose boards.

 _You don't have to pretend with me._

She suddenly looked over her shoulder at hearing that whisper in form of eco. But there was no one there, she was alone, and the street was completely empty at that hour of the night. She looked at the door again and started to strip the boards of the door.

She left them on the ground and looked at the glass of the door. She frowned a little and grabbed the knob of the door to try. The door opened with another creak and she looked inside. Everything was dark and cold.

She tried to turn on the lights but these were not working. She illuminated the room with the light of her phone and looked around. The furniture was covered with sheets, which were covered with dust as well. The atmosphere of that house was bloodcurdling, she had to admit.

 _"You know how to laugh, right?"  
_ _"Uh, opinions vary."_

She turned around quickly again, feeling a shiver running through her back. She stared at the armchairs and couch in front of the fireplace, picturing a fire burning there, thinking that that house had to be warm once.

She illuminated the stairs and went to the first floor. One of the doors was half-open and she pushed it to see. The bedroom was full of boxes and boxes, placed everywhere: on the ground, on the desk, next to the bed, inside the closet.

She hit one of them with her foot and winced, looking down, and then she saw it. She grabbed the book, with her heart beating fast, and wiped the dust of its cover with the sleeve of her jacket to read the title.

 _The Lovers of the Cemetery_

Caroline opened the box and saw that its interior contained a lot of copies of the book. There they were all the books that had been removed from the market, as Enzo had said in New York.

She sat down on the box and opened the book to start reading it.

* * *

 _Well, it seems to me that the best relationships, the ones that last, are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is… suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with._

Caroline had been going to the house for a week by now. She used to spend the nights there, sitting on the floor and reading. She started the book of the lovers of the cemetery the third day. The fourth day she found tons and tons of journals in the other boxes, and she started reading them as well.

She got automatically hooked on their content, and soon she found out that the person about whom the writer of those journals wrote was called just like her, Caroline. At first she found it was weird, but then she thought that it was a simple coincidence, since the date of the journals was from more than 50 years ago.

She soon realized as well that the journals and the book had a lot of similarities, so she started to think that they were related, and that the story of the book was based on the stories told in those journals.

She still had a lot to read, though. She was trying to find out as much as she could so that she could tell Stefan everything that she had discovered in order to give him something to write about. And she had to admit that the stories of those journals melted her heart. They had much more content than the book, and she thought that it was beautiful how two friends fell in love that way.

Although the last pages that she had read the previous night had not made her very happy.

 _"Well, okay, you want to go with them. I'll go with you."  
_ _"Caroline…" he looked away again. "You can't come."  
_ _"I'll be fine, okay? I'll behave if it's necessary, I'll try to-"  
_ _"Caroline, I don't want you to come with me."_

 _She closed her mouth, starting to feel something terrible inside of her. No… She was sure that he had not said that._

 _"It was good, and I thought that maybe… But I'm not even sure if I can feel for you what you feel for me."_

 _His words seemed distant, like an echo. And she could hear the beating of her own heart in her ears._

 _"No, I… I don't believe you" she whispered. Stefan clenched his jaw and snorted, shaking his head.  
_ _"Caroline…"  
_ _"I don't believe it, Stefan" she took a step toward him. "You want me to hate you, right? You want me to-"  
_ _"Whether you hate me or not" he said, "it won't change the fact that I'm leaving. I'm sorry" he looked at her eyes. Caroline thought that she had seen something in his own, sadness, pain, anger. But she was probably wrong. Because she did not know if she knew him as much as she had thought. "Take care, please."_

 _He looked at her one last time before turning around and walking away. Caroline watched his back, unable to move. Her feet were telling him to run after him, but something inside her said that if she did, she would be the one losing._

 _"Stefan" she said with flickering voice._

 _Stefan kept walking without looking back._

 _"Stefan!" she shouted, now angrier, with her fist clenched._

 _For a brief second, she thought that Stefan seemed to hesitate, wondering whether to stop and turn around or not do it, but he kept walking. Caroline swallowed and grabbed the door frame, breathing hard._

 _She stood still until she could not see him anymore. He was gone. She covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes tightly, trying to control the emotions that were threatening to come out._

 _It had to be a nightmare._

 _She turned around and leaned her back against the wall as she dropped to the ground, trying to get calm and breath easy. She looked blankly around, still with the door open, waiting for him to come back._

 _She waited and waited, losing track of time, and then she rose on her feet again and started running down the street toward the direction that he had taken._

 _"Stefan!"_

 _She started crying as her feet moved and ran fast and as the night got darker. She stopped when she finally saw his back. She grabbed his arm with a shaking hand to make him turn around._

 _"Don't leave me, please" she said with tears falling from her eyes._

 _Stefan looked at her with a tender look and cupped her cheek with his hand. She sobbed and covered his hand with hers, looking intently into his eyes._

 _"Please" she begged, brushing his lips with hers._

 _Stefan suddenly froze and stayed still. She looked at him with a frown and he watched her with a confused and lost look and expression._

 _"Who…? Who are you?"_

Caroline stood up immediately with her forehead covered in cold sweat. She swallowed, noticing that her throat and mouth were dry, and she looked at her hands, which were shaking. She blinked several times, realizing that there were tears in her eyes and that she felt a lump in her throat. She grabbed her phone and got out of bed.

20 minutes later, she was in front of his house, waiting with her arms folded and going all around with a pale face. He opened the door and showed up wearing his sweatpants and his tank shirt.

"Hey, I've read your text, what's going-"

Caroline ran towards him as soon as she saw him and hugged him tightly. She buried her face in his chest and he stared ahead without knowing what to say, but he wrapped her with his arms and hugged her back as tight and strong as he could. He closed his eyes, rested his chin on her crown, and started to stroke her hair.

"Hey, hey" he said in a soothing tone.

She closed her eyes against his chest and felt that she was able to breathe and relax again. She squeezed his shirt with her fingers and he brushed her hair with his lips.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked in a whisper. She shook her head and he nodded.  
"I didn't know where to go, I…"  
"Hey, hey" he stroked her hair again and held her tighter. "You've always been there for me, so let me be there for you."

Caroline released the air that she had been holding and calmed down being wrapped by his arms.

"Stay tonight" he whispered against her ear. He put an arm around her shoulders and led her inside.

The next morning, Caroline blinked several times and looked at her right. Stefan was looking at her.

"Hey" he said with a soft smile.  
"Hey" she said, stretching her arms and yawning. He chuckled and she turned to face him as he was doing. "Sorry for freaking out last night" she said, covering her eyes with her hand. "I'm pathetic."

Stefan took her hand to interlace their fingers and dropped their hands on the mattress between them.

"What happened, Caroline?"

She looked into his eyes for a few seconds before dropping her gaze to their joined hands. She was hesitant to tell him because she knew that she would sound crazy or desperate. But she needed to vent and tell him before exploding again.

"I had a nightmare, but it was so real, Stefan" she said. "I felt it so vivid and real, as if it had really happened once and…" she swallowed and tried to calm down. She shook her head and let out a dismissive laugh. "You left and were gone, and then, when I found you again, you…"

Stefan looked at her with a questioning look.

"You didn't remember me, I mean, how dare you?" she hit him with her other hand in the shoulder and he let out a laugh as he shook his head.  
"Caroline…"  
"What? It's not funny, Stefan. How would you feel if I didn't remember you at all, if I didn't know your name or who you are? Trust me, it sucks."

Stefan looked at her with a tender look and she looked down again. He bit the inside of his cheek and raised their hands to kiss the back of hers.

"I could never forget you, I already told you that."  
"Promise me" she said, a little anxious.  
"I promise."

She nodded after seeing the sincerity in his eyes.

"Good" she said. He smiled again and opened his mouth to say something when someone knocked on the door.  
"Stefan?" Elena said. "Breakfast is ready, you're going to be late if you don't have it now."

Caroline opened her eyes widely and got out of the bed clumsily. She fell out of bed and Stefan pursed his lips to restrain a smile.

"Stefan? Everything okay? What's that… noise?"

Stefan saw that Elena was about to open the door and he ran towards it to push it and close it again.

"Stefan?" Elena asked, confused.  
"I'm naked, mom."

Stefan looked behind and saw that Caroline was opening the window.

"Caroline?" he said in a whisper. She looked at him with a questioning look. "No way! Have you lost your damn mind? What are you doing?!"  
"I'm going to jump. What's your mom going to think if she sees me here?" she said. "I'm sorry, but no" she widened her eyes and shook her head.  
"It's very high" he said.  
"Stefan? Who are you talking to?" Elena said.  
"It's not that high" Caroline said. "I'm good at this, or you don't remember the day we met?"  
"How to forget it" he said.

Caroline climbed the windowsill and looked at him over her shoulder.

"Take me back to the start, huh?" he said. She giggled, looking at him, and jumped.

Stefan shook his head, smiling, and opened the door. Elena looked around before staring at him.

"One: what were you doing? And two: who were you talking to?"  
"Mom…"

Stefan rolled his eyes and left the bedroom to go to the kitchen. Elena headed to the open window and saw the back of a blonde girl in the distance, getting away from there in her bike.

"Huh" Elena said with an amused face.

* * *

Caroline was sitting on her favourite box, reading one of the journals as she used to some nights. She had just read the first kiss of Caroline and the writer. It had happened in the cabin of her family as the sun was setting, and it had been beautiful.

She sighed, leaving the journal on the bed. She had to admit that it was the best love story that she had ever read. She took the ring hanging from her necklace and looked at it, wondering if it really was the one the ring that the writer had bought to ask Caroline to marry him.

And that also made her wonder if it was possible that that Caroline of the story was an ancestor of her family, since both of them shared the same name. She took another journal and opened it to start reading the first page.

 _My name is Stefan Salvatore and this is my story._

Caroline stayed still with her eyes fixed on the name that she had just read. _Stefan Salvatore_. Caroline looked up, feeling that she was getting to the point of everything. She grabbed her bag as fast as she could and pulled out _Norwegian Wood_ to take a look to the corner of the first page.

The initials _S.S._ were written there.

"Oh my God" she whispered. "Stefan's uncle is the writer of the journals" she said to herself. "And he's the protagonist of Enzo's story."

She brushed the ring with her fingers absent-mindedly, but happy that she was going to be able to give something to Stefan.

* * *

Damon opened his eyes, staring into the darkness of the night. He looked at his right to watch Elena sleep, and after a few seconds, he got out of bed and grabbed his phone. He walked down the hallway of the first floor and stopped in front of Stefan's bedroom. He peeked out behind the door to make sure that he was sleeping.

Then he went into his brother's bedroom and closed the door carefully. He looked around as the silence filled his ears. He dragged his feet to the bed and sat down with a sigh.

He stared at the screen of his phone and began to scroll down in the contact list until he found his name. He looked at the letters with a vague smile on his face.

 _"Why do we have to do this again?" Stefan asked. Damon looked up from the fire with an annoyed scowl.  
_ _"Because it's cute" Caroline said with impatient.  
_ _"And embarrassing" Damon murmured. She glared at him._

 _Stefan and Damon exchanged a quick look. Stefan looked at him with an imploring look and Damon shrugged. Caroline grabbed Stefan's ear and pulled it._

 _"Ouch" he said with a wince.  
_ _"Come on, let's do it" she said.  
_ _"Can you leave, Damon? It's embarrassing enough without you having to see this."_

 _Damon looked at him with an amused look as Caroline prepared the phone._

 _"Hey, it's Caroline!" she said. Stefan remained silent and she nudged him.  
_ _"And Stefan" he said.  
_ _"We can't answer right now" she looked at him so that he would continue.  
_ _"So please leave a message" he said, looking at the way that Caroline was smiling.  
_ _"And we'll get in touch as soon as we-" she got interrupted when Stefan pressed his lips against hers suddenly._

 _Damon closed his eyes and shook his head, covering his eyes in embarrassment._

 _"Stefan" Caroline giggled as she pulled him away. "Not now."  
_ _"Oh, look, the time is over" he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek._

 _She looked at him with an unfriendly face as he headed to the kitchen. Damon looked at Caroline and she cleared her throat._

 _"So" she said. "Last time we played your videogame about zombies, can we now go back to The Sims? I need to redecorate the living room and my sim is pregnant so she's probably going to give birth soon."_

 _Damon could not believe that Caroline had just said all of that with a serious face and without kidding._

 _"You've changed him" he simply said.  
_ _"Hmm?"  
_ _"My brother" Damon said, looking at his glass of bourbon. "It's… surprising, the way you've changed him. He forgets about his brooding face when he's with you and he smiles so often that he's starting to scare me. How much… How much do you love him?"_

 _Caroline stared at him for a few seconds, trying to find out if he was being serious._

 _"How much do you think?" she said._

 _He looked into her eyes and nodded with a little smile. He rose the glass in his hand._

 _"Cheers to that."_

Damon pressed the call button and put the phone against his ear.

 _Hey, it's Caroline!  
_ _And Stefan.  
_ _We can't answer right now  
_ _So please leave a message  
_ _And we'll get in touch as soon as we- […] Stefan, not now  
_ _Oh, look, the time is ov-  
_ _Piiii_

Damon smiled with a sparkle in his eyes and a lump in his throat.

* * *

Damon was walking down the street, heading to Caroline's house as he was listening to Stefan and Caroline's voicemail for the seventh time.

 _So please leave a message  
_ _And we'll get in touch as soon as we- […] Stefan, not now  
_ _Oh, look, the time is ov-  
_ _Piiii_

He smiled, shaking his head, when he saw someone standing some inches again in front of him. He stopped and put his phone in the pocket of his jeans without looking away from her.

She had her back to him and was staring at the façade of the house with her head tilted to one side. He watched her hair, felt a shiver and a cold sensation running through his body. He gave one hesitant step forward and stretched his arm as if his hand could reach her.

"Blondie?" he said in a whisper, with a lump in his throat as his heart beat fast.

Tons of memories started to come to his mind, tons of moments, exchanges of words and secrets, painful emotions that they both shared. The yells, the fights, the helplessness of learning about Stefan's curse and not being able to tell her, the feeling of surrender, the feeling of hope due to her determined to find his brother, the sound of her crying the night that she read Stefan's journals, the screams when she saw him dead, the lost hope in her eyes. The day she was able to smile again, the day she left. The day she died.

"Blondie?" he repeated, but the girl did not turn around. He frowned at her not responding, since he was sure that that was her hair.

Damon gave another step.

"Caroline."

She turned around and looked at him. Damon's face got pale and he froze, staying still on his feet and looking at her with wide eyes and a shocked expression.

 _"Is it over?" Damon asked, leaning against the door frame._

 _Caroline looked over her shoulder._

 _"Will you now be able to move on? To move forward?" he continued._

 _They exchanged a meaningful look._

 _"I think I will" she replied, nodding slightly._

 _Damon nodded too and looked around one last time before turning around. He stopped, however, before leaving. He grabbed the door frame and looked at Caroline. She looked back at him._

 _"Take care, blondie."_

 _Caroline' lips formed a line as a little smile. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, knowing what the last years had meant to both of them; knowing how, Stefan Salvatore, had built up a kind of bond between them that probably neither of them would never be able to understand. They just knew._


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER VII**

She turned around and looked at him. Damon's face got pale and he froze, staying still on his feet and looking at her with wide eyes and a shocked expression. She stared at him with a confused look.

"Er… Do we… Do we know each other?" she asked him with a frown. Damon raised his eyebrows, as if he was starting to wake up from a feeling of hope.  
"Um, you just look…" Damon watched her face, unable to believe what he was seeing. She looked just like her, she was Caroline. The Caroline that he had met and known years ago. Stefan's _Caroline_.

She frowned at him again and Damon looked at her hand. She was not wearing a daylight ring.

"You look just like her" he said in a whisper, almost inaudible, as he watched her.  
"Sorry, what?" she said.  
"You…" he looked up at her eyes and he instantly felt a familiar feeling. "You remind me of someone I once met. Someone who was… very special."

She looked at him, still confused and a little scared. Damon looked at her hand again and understood. She was human. Caroline analyzed his face for a moment and then she looked at him, surprised.

"Oh, wait! You're Damon" she said. "Sorry, Damon Salvatore, I mean. Stefan's father."

Damon frowned at her.

"You know Stefan?"  
"We're classmates, in high school, although we don't go to the same class. I'm one year younger than him."

Damon nodded slowly, thinking about how ironic the situation was. His son, a replica of his brother, of Stefan, had met a girl that looked exactly like Caroline and that, at the same time, shared her name as he shared his. Was it a joke of fate?

"It's very late to walk alone in Mystic Falls. Haven't you heard the stories?" he asked.  
"Hmm" Caroline looked around, rubbing her neck. "Vampires, werewolves?" she burst into laughter and Damon watched her with narrowed eyes. Then she looked at him, thinking about whether saying something about the story of the lovers of the cemetery or not, since his brother was the protagonist of the story. "But, who knows" she shrugged, looking intently at him. "Maybe other stories are true. Have you ever heard of the story of the lovers of the cemetery?"

Damon, still, and without knowing what to say, looked intently at her. She held his gaze, watching his face in order to analyze his reaction.

"I'm afraid I've never heard of it" he finally said.  
"Oh, such a shame" she said. "I read it hundredths of times when I was a child. I was obsessed."  
"Huh" Damon looked down, restraining a smile The situation got more and more ironic.  
"Well, Mr. Salvatore, it's been nice to meet you" she grabbed her bag and raised her bicycle from the floor to get on. "Have a good night."

Caroline pedalled and Damon stood still a few more seconds. She was exactly like her.

"Caroline?" Damon turned around and she stopped to look at him over her shoulder. "Come one day to our house, to have dinner."

She nodded with a little smile and kept pedalling. Damon followed her with his eyes until she disappeared. He looked at the sky with a sparkling in his eyes.

 _Damon closed the door behind him and headed to the table to take a glass and the bottle of bourbon. He looked at Bonnie from the corner of his eye. She was sitting on an armchair with a book open on her lap._

 _"That book again?"  
_ _"Huh-huh."  
_ _"You're wasting your time."  
_ _"Yeah, you already told me."_

 _Damon flopped on the other armchair and looked at the fire._

 _"Walking around the cemetery again?" Bonnie asked him without looking away from the book.  
_ _"They've been gone for 10 years already" Damon said with thoughtful voice._

 _Bonnie looked up at him. Damon nodded and raised his glass._

 _"I hope they're having the time of their lives up there" Damon said with a bitter smile. Bonnie kept looking at him with a serious face. "What?"  
_ _"I was just wondering when you'll accept what happened. Maybe, if you did, you could help me with this" Bonnie pointed at the book and Damon rolled his eyes.  
_ _"You said it yourself."  
_ _"I know what I said, Damon."  
_ _"And there's no Other Side, there's nothing."  
_ _"Maybe there's something."  
_ _"Even if there was, maybe it's better to leave them alone" Damon brought the glass to his lips. Bonnie looked at him from the corner of her eye. "With all the obstacles that life put in their path, why would they want to come back?"_

 _Bonnie looked at him, puzzled, not being able to believe his words, and then she shook her head. Damon looked at her with a questioning look._

 _"You're in denial" she said.  
_ _"Me?" Damon asked with a dismissive smile. "You're the one who has her head in that book, looking for some way to bring your friends back. Dead friends, by the way."_

 _Bonnie, who had just read something in the book, looked up at the fire and then at the jewelry box where Stefan and Caroline's rings were kept._

 _"They're off the hook" he mumbled, watching his glass._

 _Bonnie looked at the pages of the book again with a little smile on her lips._

"Wow" Damon said after a long silence, thinking of Bonnie. "Maybe you couldn't bring them back, but you've wanted to give Stef the same opportunity, to give me the same opportunity" he said, looking down "of doing things right this time."

 _"He told me that he needed to start again and give her a try… Lily."  
_ _"Why did you let him go?" she said with a hint of anger and frustration in her voice. Caroline did not want to fight again, not after he had offered to help at home, but she could not help feeling resentment against him.  
_ _"Because he didn't let me stop him" Damon hissed._

 _Caroline nodded with a hard face, rose, and went back into the house, slamming the door behind her. Damon did not even flinch, he had got used to it._

 _He remembered the day he found Stefan packing perfectly well. He had been hanging out with Alaric and Bonnie and he had gone back home very late, so he had not expected seeing Stefan awake at that hour of the night. Especially not with a big backpack hanging from his shoulder._

 _"Are you going somewhere?" Damon asked him, closing the front door with his foot. Stefan was in front of him, still, obviously he had not expected bumping into Damon before leaving the house._

 _Damon saw the key of Caroline's house in his hand. Stefan was fiddling with it with his fingers, nervously. He looked tired, his eyes red and glassy as if he had been crying not long ago._

 _"Staying at Caroline's tonight, naughty boy?" Damon winked at him and Stefan looked down. He was not in the mood for jokes, clearly. "Stefan?"_ _Damon frowned and took a step forward. Stefan did the same thing, but backwards. "What's going on?"_

 _Stefan rubbed his chin, still with the key in his hand._

 _"I gotta go" he simply said.  
_ _"Go where?" Damon asked.  
_ _"I'll come back for more things soon" Stefan passed next to him and walked towards the door. Damon vamp-sped to stand in front of it. Stefan stopped and sighed.  
_ _"Something is going on, and I want to know what it is" Damon said firmly._

 _Stefan looked at him, directly in the eye._

 _"I talked to Lily, and I realized that there were a lot of things that I don't comprehend, yet."  
_ _"And?"  
_ _"And I want to figure out those things, and give her a chance. I want to start over with her. She's our mother" Stefan explained with a serious expression._

 _Damon seemed surprised and shocked for a few seconds, and then watched Stefan's face, trying to analyze it and understand what was going on._

 _"You're a good liar, and I'd have bought it if I didn't know you for centuries" Damon said, folding his arms. Stefan snorted, shaking his head and smiling scornfully. "What's going on?"  
_ _"I just told you. I need a clear start, away from Mystic Falls, away from everyone. I need to see if Lily's able to redeem herself. And I want to be by her side if that happens. I just want to have the family we should have always had."  
_ _"She's your family."_

 _And Stefan knows perfectly well and instantly who Damon is referring to and talking about when he says 'she', because he looks away again, as if he cannot bear it._

 _"And I see your face, you've been spiralling, maybe even crying" Damon said. "And I guess you have been doing so because of her. You wouldn't leave Caroline behind for anything in the world. I've seen you when you're with her."_

 _Stefan remained silent, looking at the door over Damon's shoulder. He was incapable of looking at him because he knew that as soon as he would, he would break down again._

 _"Seen me?" Stefan asked vaguely, motionless.  
_ _"Happy" Damon said. "I've seen happiness. I've seen you complete for the first time in my life."_

 _Stefan pursed his lips and clenched his jaw, squeezing the key in his hand, not being able to restrain himself._

 _"Well, I guess I was wrong, and you are too, because I've realized I don't love her as much as I thought" he said, finally looking at him. Damon raised his eyebrows, staring at him for a few seconds, and then he burst into laughing. Stefan looked away again with a scowl.  
_ _"You're an idiot" Damon said. "Okay, what's going on in that head of yours? What are you afraid of now? You know she loves you, you're everything to her."  
_ _"That's the thing._ _I'm everything to her, but she's not everything to me."_

 _Stefan passed by Damon and grabbed the knob of the door. Damon stayed still, he had not been that confused in his whole life._

 _"Stefan" Damon turned around and Stefan waited in silence. He looked up at him and Damon felt as though he was trying to tell him something with his look, as if he was begging him to stop him, to ask him more questions. To help him somehow.  
_ _"I'm going to see her, to say goodbye and give her this" he said, waving the key. He swallowed and looked down._ _"Can you do me a last favour? I don't know how she'll react, I don't know what she…" he sighed and cleared his throat. Damon frowned at him, knowing that something was going on and out of place. "Could you take care of her? Could you keep an eye on her? I don't want her to do something crazy, or go look for me. It wouldn't be good, Lily and the heretics, well, you know they don't like her very much, and Caroline…" Stefan looked at his left and saw the picture of them that she had placed on the table of the lobby. They were smiling and she was hugging him from behind, with her chin resting on his shoulder. His stomach twisted and Damon followed the direction of his gaze.  
_ _"Stefan" he said, knowing that he needed to stop him.  
_ _"Just keep an eye on her, take care of her, until she moves on" Stefan said, looking away from the picture with a sparkle in his eyes.  
_ _"Stefan, if you go, if you leave her" Damon said, giving another step forward. "I don't know if she'll be able to forgive you if you come back, someday. You understand that?"_

 _Stefan looked up at his brother with an exhausted face._

 _"I know" he said before walking away, leaving the door open, and Damon alone._

* * *

Damon looked up from his plate of pancakes and stared at Stefan, who was sitting at the table in front of him, having breakfast as well. He saw him smiling at his phone, texting or talking to someone as he drank his orange juice or bit his pancake.

He was intrigued, he had to admit. More than intrigued, he was cautious, watchful. Because he had a mission now, a goal, a purpose of fixing things, of doing things right this time.

 _"I know exactly what you're going through, and I know you think you don't deserve to be happy" Damon rolled his eyes. Caroline glanced at the floor. "You're scared of giving yourself a chance because you think that as soon as you're happy again, something bad will happen and it'll make you miserable."_

 _Caroline felt a knot in her throat and swallowed._

 _"But you know what? If you don't give yourself a chance, you'll never know if it could have worked or not. And you know? Stefan may be an idiot, but he's still super into you" Damon nudged her playfully and Caroline shook her head. "I've read one of his journals, one I didn't give to you."_

 _Caroline looked up at him._

 _"And what I've read has shown me again that you're the only one who can make him happy. According to his words, he knew too."  
_ _"Damon…"  
_ _"Just think about it, give him a chance. You know that you won't be able to happy if you're not with him."  
_ _"It's too complicated" she said. "What am I supposed to do? Not telling him the truth? I can't lie to him, he doesn't deserve it."  
_ _"That depends on you" he said. "Although I think that deep down, he has a kind of feeling about you. I think he knows something is up, but he's afraid to admit it. Besides, blondie, there are always loopholes. Who knows? Maybe we'll find a way to bring his memories back."  
_ _"I don't know, Damon…"  
_ _"And it's not as if everything was lost, it's not like Stefan was dead" he said._

 _Caroline looked at him in silence, unable to believe that Damon Salvatore had just given her a speech of optimism._

 _"Look, call me selfish, but I need my brother to be happy. And I know the only person who makes him happy, it's you" Damon stood up. "Think about it."_

Damon fixed his eyes on Stefan's smile. There are always loopholes. It is not as if everything was lost. He needed Stefan, any Stefan, to be happy. He was not able to give that to his brother, but he would give that chance to his son. It could not be just a coincidence.

"So" Damon said after clearing his throat. Stefan looked up from his phone, "who are you talking to?"  
"Uh" Stefan shook his head, leaving his phone on the table. "No one, just some friends from school."

Damon nodded, cutting his pancake in several small pieces.

"Did you see Sophie in New York?"  
"Yeah."  
"Did you break up with her there? Definitely, I mean."  
"We talked in that party I told you about. That is hundred percent over, dad."  
"Good."

Stefan looked at Damon with a frown and a confused look.

"Am I missing something?" he asked.  
"No, I was just thinking if you've met any girl, at school."

Stefan and Damon exchanged a look. Father looking at his son with interest and raised eyebrows. Stefan cleared his throat and looked down at his plate, somewhat embarrassed.

"Maybe."

Maybe. Oh no, red alert. Damon could not let that happen. He should have known about this new Caroline sooner. He should have done something to make them get to know each other. Did Stefan like blondes? He had no clue, but he wanted to think so.

"She's… different" Stefan said with a wrinkled forehead. "She's-"  
"I think you shouldn't go so fast, you know, after Sophie. Besides, I ran into the daughter of some friends of us some days ago. I think it'd be cool if you two met, so I was thinking about inviting her to have dinner this week, here. What do you think?" Damon looked at him with a wide smile and then smirked at him. Stefan shook his head.  
"Dad, do not start" Stefan said.  
"I'm just saying you might like her."  
"I'm not in the mood for blind dates. This girl, she's my friend, and I kind of like her, but she doesn't know yet. I'm not interested in meeting someone else."

Damon snorted and chewed a piece of pancake, throwing a tantrum with the expression of his face.

"I appreciate it, dad, really. But I had thought about inviting this girl to have dinner already."  
"Fine" Damon said an unfriendly tone. Stefan pursed his lips to restrain a smile and jumped off the tool to head to the door. "See you later. Bye, mom" he said to Elena, who had just entered the kitchen.  
"Bye, Stef" she said. Then she looked at Damon and folded her arms. "What was all that about? What daughter? What friends? Have you been drinking again?"  
"Forget about it" Damon waved his hand. "My plan has failed even before starting."

* * *

Stefan looked at the clock of the wall as the teacher of Modern Literature talked and talked nonstop about things that he already knew. He grabbed his phone and looked at the screen. The sooner he gathered courage to ask her to come to his house and invite her to have dinner with him and his parents, the better. Besides, it was not as if they had not met to have dinner before. They had already, several times, at Caroline's, with her aunt too.

He was about to text her when the door of the classroom opened and everyone got startled due to the loud noise. She was there, her eyes red and swollen because of crying. He looked at her, worried, and was about to stand up when she yelled at him.

"How could you?!" Caroline said, pointing at him. Stefan looked at her with a questioning look. The other students were staring at them silently. Even the teacher was still and quiet.  
"Caroline, what-"  
"We were happy, weren't we?" she said, looking around with a dramatic face. "You told me you had nothing to do with her, but you lied!" Caroline burst into tears and covered her face with her hands. Stefan rose on his feet slowly, cautious, and more confused than ever before. He walked towards her and tried to put his hand on her shoulder but she shoved him. "Don't you dare touch me" she said with her cheeks full of tears.  
"Caroline, what's going on?" he asked in a whisper, looking around at all the people staring at them.  
"Yeah, now pretend nothing happened. Pretend that you didn't cheat on me with that bitch, pretend that you didn't kiss her the other day at the Grill. I can't believe you did this" Caroline turned around dramatically, embracing herself with her arms. Stefan looked at the teacher, who had his mouth wide open. "Why did you ask me to marry you, Stefan?" Caroline said suddenly, looking at him with a sharp expression again.  
"What-"  
"You wanted to marry me but at the same you wanted to sleep with Rebecca?"  
"Forbes, I think you should-" the teacher stood up, but Caroline waved his hand at him.  
"Don't, Professor Graham, this is between Stefan and me" she said, and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. "I should have known better, I should have rejected you when I had the chance. Even my aunt said you weren't trustworthy. Such a disappointment you've been" she sobbed and touched her stomach with her hand. The teacher widened his eyes and the students started to talk in whispers. Stefan widened his eyes as well, looking at her, and she looked up at him.  
"Don't you dare" Stefan said, moving his lips without making any sound.  
"And now I'm pregnant" she said suddenly. "What am I going to do now?" she cried and left the classroom dramatically.

Stefan stared at the door for a few seconds, still and quietly.

"Uh" Graham cleared his throat. "I think you should go check on your girlfriend, Salvatore" he said.

Stefan looked at him, startled, as if he had just seen him. Then he looked around, realizing how everyone was staring at him.

"Yeah, I will, I'll just…" he pointed at the door and then got out of the classroom, closing the door behind him.

He gave some steps forward and then leaned his arm against the wall in a corner. Caroline had her back against the wall around it and she was biting her lower lip, looking at him with a hint of naughty smile.

"I can't believe what you just did" he said, folding his arms and looking at her. She giggled and walked over to him.  
"I needed you out of that classroom somehow, Stefan" she said.  
"Yeah, and pretending I cheated on you and you're pregnant was the way?" he asked, somewhat amused. She shrugged.  
"Drama always wins. Graham wouldn't have let you go just for the sake of it."

Stefan shook his head and wiped the tears of her cheeks with his thumb.

"You're an excellent drama queen. That I have to admit."

She giggled again and he smiled, dropping his arm.

"So? What's going on?"  
"I have a surprise for you" she said with a wide smile. "I have information, a lot of information, for you and your book" she continued. Stefan frowned. "Don't look at me with your brooding look, okay? I'm serious. I have the book about the lovers of the cemetery, and not only that, I have journals and journals written by your uncle. Turns out he was the protagonist of the story."  
"What?" Stefan said, shocked.  
"Yeah, I just… I started to do my own research, I wanted to get you something definite and real, so I waited until I knew I got something and-"  
"Oh my God" Stefan said. "You're kidding."  
"No, I'm not. I know where everything is, we just have to go and-"  
"Oh my God" he repeated, now putting his arms around her waist to grab her, hug her and make her spin in the air.

She laughed as he span them around in the middle of the hallway, completely empty. When he stopped, she had to grab his arms to not fall due to the dizziness, still laughing.

"You're the best, you're just great" he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and she got nervous automatically, making her blush a little. "Marrying you doesn't sound so bad at all, huh" he nudged her and she shook her head, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

He took her hand suddenly and pulled her.

"Wait, what…? Where are we going?"  
"I can't wait, I need to see everything" he said.  
"I thought you didn't like to skip classes" she said, amused, and letting him pull her.  
"It's worthy this time. Oh, you're having dinner at my house tonight, by the way. I owe you."

* * *

"I can't believe it" Stefan said, turning the pages of the book frantically as they both headed to the front door of the Salvatore mansion.  
"You said that six times already" Caroline said, walking next to him.  
"I don't know how to thank you" he said, stopping right in front of the door, back to it, to look at her.  
"Hmm" she said, as if she was thinking. "Well, aren't you inviting me to dinner tonight? Aren't you going to cook? I guess that's enough."  
"That's not enough, not at all" he said, looking down at her lips. Caroline's heart jumped. He raised his hand and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, and left his hand there, with his fingers buried in her locks. She looked at him under her lashes. He smiled softly, looking tenderly at her. "Caroline, listen, I need to tell you som-"

The front door opened and Stefan turned around instantly, hiding the book behind his back with his hands. Elena was there, with her hand grabbing the knob and a glass of water in the other.

"I thought I had heard your voice" she said with a smile. Caroline grabbed the book discreetly and put it inside her bag carefully.  
"Mom, hey" Stefan said, a little heated due to Caroline's proximity not longer than 30 seconds ago.  
"Who were you talking to?" Elena asked. Stefan stepped aside to make Caroline visible. She smiled at Elena, who froze as soon as she saw those blue eyes, the blonde hair, the freckles around the nose. The familiar, comforting, friendly smile of hers. Their goodbye years ago when she was in a magical coma.  
"Hi, Mrs. Salvatore" she said with cheerful voice.

Her voice, full of optimism as Caroline's was. She was exactly like her. The glass of water slipped from her hand and fell to the ground, breaking into tiny pieces.

"Mom?" Stefan asked, moving towards her. "You okay?"

Elena was staring intently at her, frozen. She could not look away from her, from her best friend.

 _"You have to stop crying, please" Elena said for the third time, wiping the tears from her own cheeks.  
_ _"I'm so, so sorry" Caroline said, sobbing and wiping her cheeks too. "I just… I can't believe this is happening. This wasn't supposed to happen. You were finally human, happily human, and annoying Damon was going to become human too, and you two were going to get your happy ending, your-"  
_ _"Caroline" Elena said with a weak smile.  
_ _"It's not fair" Caroline said, shaking her head. "It's not fair that you have to go through this. How am I supposed to keep going?"_

 _Elena looked at Caroline with raised eyebrows. Caroline looked back at her, knowing what she was thinking._

 _"Let's not talk about that now" she said.  
_ _"No, we have to, actually" Elena said. "I need to ask you for a favour before I go. And we don't have much time left."_

 _Caroline bit her lower lip to restrain another sob, though the tears were accumulating in her eyes again._

 _"First, you'll have to keep an eye on Bonnie. I don't want her to feel guilty for this, it's not her fault."  
_ _"I know" Caroline said with a nod. "I'll keep her distracted, I promise."  
_ _"I know you will, you're the best at making fun plans and organizing random parties without any reason to" Elena said. They both laughed as the tears fell from their eyes._

 _They remained in silence for a few seconds, enjoying the taste and sound of their laughs in a moment like that. Elena took a deep breath and took Caroline's hand._

 _"Thank you, Caroline, for everything" Elena said. "For always being there for me when I needed it, and for being such a great friend."_

 _Caroline shook her head, looking down as she kept crying in silence. Elena sniffed and sighed._

 _"You deserve to be happy, you know that, right?"_

 _Caroline looked up and met her eyes. Elena raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing look._

 _"You make him happy" she finally said. Caroline looked away.  
_ _"We don't have to talk about-"  
_ _"He's in love with you" Elena interrupted her. "He looks at you as if you were his whole world. He looks at you in such a way… He loves you, Care."_

 _Caroline blushed a little._

 _"We shouldn't be talking about me, we should make plans and-"  
_ _"Listen" Elena squeezed her hand tenderly. "He smiles when he's with you, he laughs. It's a kind of love that I've never seen. I don't know, it's just beautiful, how complete you make each other, how he's found in you everything that he was looking for, how you were the missing part that has made him whole again. You… You saved him."_

 _Caroline looked at Elena with sparkling eyes. Elena smiled softly at her._

 _"And I know you've loved him longer than you think. I know how he was always a part of you, somehow. He's always lived in you, since that day when he helped you. You deserve your fairytale, Care."_

 _Elena stroked her cheek and Caroline sobbed at the same time that she laughed. Elena wiped the tear that had just fallen from her eye and cupped her cheek._

 _"I need you to be happy. You two need to stop wasting time, because sometimes you realize there might not be much."_

 _Caroline sighed and Elena stood straight, sniffing again._

 _"Promise me" she said. Caroline looked at her with trembling lips. "Promise me you won't wait to be happy, Care. He's your happiness, you just need to embrace it."_

 _Caroline sobbed again and wiped her cheeks._

 _"Okay?" Elena said, holding her hand again. Caroline nodded.  
_ _"Okay" she said with a little smile. Elena looked at her with raised eyebrows. "I will, I promise."_

 _Elena nodded and Caroline looked around._

 _"Hey, there's something good about this situation after all."  
_ _"What?"  
_ _"You're going to be the protagonist of the real adaptation of Sleeping Beauty!"_

 _They both laughed and Bonnie opened the door of the bedroom._

 _"Are we seriously having a sleepover?" she asked, laughing._

Elena reacted when Stefan called her for the third time and looked down at the broken tiny pieces of glass.

"Oh, God" she said, crouching down to take them. Stefan imitated her and stopped her.  
"Wait, let us do it" he said. Caroline crouched down next to him and gave Elena a sympathetic smile.  
"But, your friend…"  
"I'm a control freak, actually" Caroline said with a giggle. "Trust me, I'm pleased."  
"Caroline…" Stefan rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Elena stood up, looking intently at her, still in shock, even more after hearing her name. She looked at her hands as Caroline picked some of the pieces carefully and gave them to Stefan. There was not a daylight ring in any of her fingers. But she did not understand what was happening.

"This is the friend that is staying tonight, Stef?" Elena asked with weak voice.  
"Yeah" Stefan said, standing up, Caroline too.  
"I can go if it's not a good moment" Caroline said, but Elena shook her head and took her hand in hers.

Elena looked into her eyes and gave her a tender smile, trying to restrain the tears forming in her eyes.

"No, no" she said. "We're happy you're here. Come in, sit down in the living room and Damon and I will start preparing everything."  
"What's going…?" Damon, who had just left the kitchen, stopped when he saw them.

Seeing Caroline the other day had been shocking, of course. But seeing his son and that new Caroline, seeing the physical and real ghosts of Stefan and Caroline next to each other was too much. He looked at them, standing next to each other, their arms touching slightly. Lots of memories gathered in his mind. The echo of their laughs from Stefan's bedroom; the late nights in front of the fireplace in that living room when he drank and watched them being cheesy; the day he and Caroline found Stefan in that house in the middle of nowhere and she could not help herself and walked towards him as if something was pulling from them; the day they found his body and Caroline clung to him as if there was no tomorrow, crying, screaming, mumbling; and then, nothing. No more Stefan and Caroline side by side, no more smiles, no more laughs.

But now, there they were again, as if time had not passed, as if Stefan had never died, as if Caroline had never decided to end her life. As if everything that happened years and years ago would have been a simple nightmare.

It was incredible how they seemed so them.

Elena looked at Damon carefully, afraid of his possible reaction, of him breaking down right there in front of them. She had been about to lose control, to run towards that girl to hug her tightly and start crying, thanking for having her best friend back. It was worse for Damon. He had been present when everything happened, and he had never moved on completely.

"Oh, hey" he finally said after clearing his throat.  
"This is Caroline, dad, the friend I talked you about" Stefan said.  
"We actually met the other day" Damon said. Elena looked at him with a frown. "How are you, Caroline?"  
"Dandy" she said.

Damon pursed his lips to restrain a smile and nodded. Stefan looked at Caroline and pointed at the kitchen with his head.

"Come with me? You can help me in the kitchen if you want" he said.  
"Sure."

They both started walking towards the kitchen as Damon and Elena followed them with their eyes.

"As long as you don't burn it, of course" Stefan mumbled. Caroline shoved his shoulder.  
"Ha, ha, how funny" she said.

The door of the kitchen closed behind them and they stopped hearing their voices. Elena's lower lip trembled. She sobbed and the tears started falling from her eyes. Damon looked at her with a sad face and wrapped her with his arms to hug her. She hid her face against his chest as she cried.

"I know" he said in a whisper. "I know."

* * *

"She's just like her" Elena said in a whisper, looking out from the window of the bedroom, a wineglass in hand. Stefan and Caroline were having a walk around the house and she could not keep her eyes off of them.  
"I know" Damon said, his back against the walls and his hands inside the pockets of his jeans.

Elena took a sip of wine and swallowed it slowly, hearing their laughs in the distance.

"It was like seeing her again. I can't believe it's been almost a hundred years" Elena needed the lump in her throat to disappear. "I miss her."  
"I know" Damon repeated after a sigh.

He knew the situation was delicate, but deep down he was glad that the girl about whom Stefan had been talking about during breakfast was Caroline. It was comical, given the circumstances. He had decided to do all he could to make them get to know each other, but it had not been necessary. They had been hanging out for months, they had become friends, maybe even best friends.

"She's fun, nice, bubbly, cheerful" Elena said, turning around, her back to the window. "It can't be possible, Damon."  
"I know it's weird. But think about it, we didn't expect our son to be just like my brother, and he was" he said. "Fate and its obsession with the Salvatore family" he winked at Elena and she shook her head.  
"I don't know" she sighed and looked out from the window again. Stefan and Caroline were standing on the grass, talking. Damon stood next to Elena and looked at them too.  
"I think it might be a second chance, for the family to do things right."

Elena looked at Damon from the corner of her eye.

"I'm just saying that my brother and Carebear didn't have the chance to be happy, to be together. But maybe those two can and have it, maybe it's their chance."

Elena looked at her wineglass.

"It's like the story is being repeated again" she said. "Except for all the obstacles that they had, I mean."  
"Do you mean Stefan's obsession with your face at the beginning of times?"

Elena rolled her eyes.

"And Stefan being blind" she said. "It took him so long to realize he was in love with her. Boys."

Damon pursed his lips to restrain a smile.

"I think he was just scared. Stefan was a puppy, we both know that. He didn't want to lose Caroline's friendship."

Elena nodded.

"So it's being repeated indeed, but they have a clear path ahead this time. Well, not they, but them" she said, pointing at Stefan and Caroline on the grass.  
"It's funny, isn't it?" Damon said.  
"I think it's weird."  
"I think we had gotten used to not being involved in any supernatural drama for ages, and that's why this has hit us in the ass."

Elena sighed and walked over to the bed to sit down.

"I think they have an obstacle, though. None of them takes the first step, it's frustrating" Damon mumbled. "Stefan likes her, it's obvious, and he told me this morning."  
"I know, it's the same look" Elena said, distracted and looking at the ground. Damon looked at her. "The same expression, the same longing and affection" she continued. "He looks at her just like Stefan looked at Caroline."

Damon smiled softly and looked down as well. He knew that look very well, he had seen it months and months before… Before everything happened.

"He looks at her as if he'd have found that something that he's always missed without knowing why, without knowing what it was" Damon said. Elena nodded again. "She makes him laugh. We had never seen Stef laugh so much."  
"It's not just that, it's the way they seem connected somehow, as if they were inseparable, as if they had known each other for a long time."

Damon looked at Elena again and watched her face carefully.

"Do you think it's possible?" she said, looking up at him. "Do you think…"  
"No" Damon shook his head, looking away. "It's just a coincidence. The Other Side wasn't there, there was no way."  
"But Bonnie-"  
"She tried, for years, but I think she'd have told me."  
"What about her?" Elena asked. "She has even her name, Damon."  
"I know, I just need to look into it a little bit further. Figure out where she comes from and who she is. But she isn't wearing a daylight ring. She's not a vampire, Elena. She's not her. She would've told us if she were."

Elena put the glass on the bedside table.

"She likes him too" she said. "I noticed. She looks furtively at him sometimes, when he's not looking. She has the same look that Caroline had when she first saw Stefan, when he came to Mystic Falls" Elena laughed. "I still remember when she told me about the June wedding she had planned for them, once we weren't together anymore, I mean."

Damon could not help but smile with a sad look, thinking about the engagement ring that Stefan had bought for Caroline.

"We were getting ourselves ready for Alaric and Jo's wedding, in this bedroom" Elena looked around. "And we were catching up, and then we started talking about you two. And Stefan's topic came up and she just… You know, she started rambling as she used to" she laughed as her eyes filled with tears due to the memory. Damon swallowed, looking out from the window. "And she just told me. She told me 'I'm scared of seeing Stefan at the wedding because I love seeing him wearing a suit, but it makes me nervous too, because it reminds me of that year when I had planned our whole June wedding in my mind'. I laughed so hard."

Damon thought about the cemetery, about the place where Stefan was buried, about the place where Caroline had turned into ashes. He wondered if the ring would still be there, lost somewhere.

"I'm scared, Damon."  
"They're not going to get married anytime soon, relax" Damon said with a smirk. Elena shook her head, smiling.  
"What if one of them gets hurt? What if this is a joke of fate?"

Damon sat down next to her, on the bed.

"I failed my brother once. I won't fail this time again."

Caroline was staring at the sky, at the starts shining. Stefan was looking at her though.

"They're cute" she said. "Your parents."  
"Yeah" he smiled.

Caroline took a step forward and hugged herself. Stefan stared at her blonde curls, at her back, at her curves. He gulped and clenched his jaw, looking down, seeing how the breeze moved the grass slightly.

He touched the pocket of his jeans, thinking that it was probably the best moment to tell her. He approached her and stood right behind her.

"I love watching the stars" she said. "Marien told me a story about them once, when I was little" she smiled and continued. "She said that people never leave forever, that they don't die completely, you know? She said that when a person is gone, he or she becomes a star, staring from up there, watching, and waiting for their moment to come back, to try again and have a second chance."

Caroline had felt so comfortable that she had not even realized that Stefan had rested his chin on her shoulder and that he had wrapped her waist with his arms from behind. Or maybe she had, but it was such a familiar, warm feeling that she did not want to let it go.

"That's funny" he said.  
"Why?" Caroline said with a frown.  
"Well, because" Stefan pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was a piece of paper, "I knew your birthday was coming and I got you something."  
"Oh, no" she said dramatically.  
"Just read it, for God's sake" Stefan said, laughing.

Caroline unfolded the paper and started reading. She widened her eyes and her mouth opened.

"You… You named a star after me?"  
"I did."  
"Why?" she asked in a whisper, still looking at the paper.  
"Well, I don't know, I just… When we went to New York, we made that stop and it was late, when we were looking for a motel. And you just sat on the hood of the car and looked at the stars. And you smiled, and then you laughed. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. It was the moment when I realized."

Caroline seemed to freeze a little and took a step forward. She turned around to face him.

"What are you…?"  
"Caroline, I just" he rubbed his neck with a smile, looking down. "Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, okay? But I had lost my inspiration to write, and then you showed up in that office with that damn cheerleader uniform" he ran his hand over his face as if he was trying to forget the image of her wearing it but not being able to. Caroline blushed a little and her heart started to race. She got scared, because deep down she knew what was about to happen. "And you turned my world upside down, completely" he shook his head, laughing. "I found the inspiration again, I found my muse without even realizing it" he looked a her, she looked at him. "You're my muse, my star" he said. Her heart jumped because of his words and because of the way he was looking at her with those green eyes. "I started writing about you, I couldn't stop. The words just… It was so easy to write about you. I've filled journals and journals, just writing about everything, about every moment I spend with you. Every little thing about you. You just took me by surprise. All of you. The feeling was so real, so surprising, but so familiar, and warm at the same time, I…"

Caroline looked at him without saying a word. He sighed.

"But then we became friends, and I…"  
"Yeah, exactly" she finally said. "That's what we are. Friends, Stefan, just friends."

He looked at her in silence, knowing that she would say that. But he did not believe her, he knew that she was lying to herself.

"Caroline."  
"What, Stefan? What? I already told you, I don't believe in those things."  
"Why?" he said with little patience.  
"Why?" she repeated. "Because I'm not made for that. I'm not meant to-"  
"You're not meant to just because you're scared?"  
"No, I'm not meant to because the perfect match doesn't exist, okay?"  
"Yeah, sure, that's the excuse you use now that you've found the perfect match. Because you didn't think a friend, a best friend, could be that person."

Caroline looked at him with her mouth open, not knowing what to say, and he looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"I know you better than anybody else, and you know that" he continued. She snorted and looked away.  
"So what?"  
"So that must mean something, don't you think?"  
"Yeah, it means we're friends."  
"Friends" Stefan said, nodding, and biting the inside of his cheek.  
"Yeah, friends" Caroline repeated. "Best friends, actually. And you know what? Best friends don't have any kind of feeling for each other. They're just that, friends in a higher level, superior level than just friends becau-"

Stefan grabbed her face and pressed his lips against hers suddenly. Caroline froze instantly, but did not pull away. He parted her lips with his tongue and deepened the kiss, burying his fingers in her hair, moving his lips against hers slowly until he literally stopped moving them. His lips were just brushing hers, similarly to their first kiss. Caroline took a step forward, moving even closer to him. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him to her, opening her mouth to him and moving her lips against his more intensively.

He sighed against her mouth after she bit his lower lip softly and then faster. He did not know how long the kiss lasted. He did not even want to know, because it felt like heaven. But he finally slowed down until their lips went back to the position of just grazing.

He pulled away slowly with his hands still in both sides of her face and she opened her eyes to look at him. She looked at his lips, licked her own instinctively, and then into his eyes. He looked back at her.

"Wow."

Hearing him was like coming back to earth. She pushed him suddenly, pulling him away from her.

"Have you lost your damn mind?!" she said.  
"What?"  
"Why?!" she yelled at him, pushing him again. "Why did you do that? Why couldn't just stop and restrain yourself, huh?" she pushed him once again until his back hit the wall. He was looking at her as if she was actually the one that had lost her mind.  
"Before you decide to murder me, let me explain-"  
"What the hell were you thinking, Stefan?!" she said, pushing his shoulder.  
"Caroline, Jesus, just let me-" he was trying to grab her but it was impossible.  
"Tell me, just tell me why you decide to make this so-"  
"I kissed you because I wanted to, okay? Because it felt right, because I just needed to kiss you."  
"You shouldn't have. Wasn't that time in New York enough or what?!" she pushed him again and his back hit the wall once again. Stefan looked at her, surprised.  
"Wait. You remember that night" he told her. Caroline paled, realizing she had given herself away. "You remembered the kiss."

She opened her mouth to say something, to defend herself, to counterattack, but she did not know what to do. She turned around and started walking away. Stefan followed her and grabbed her hand to stop her and make her turn around to him.

"What, Stefan" she said with gritted teeth.  
"I kissed you, it happened. Period, Caroline. We've kissed, twice, and you let me, twice."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him, unable to believe his impertinence.

"Stop running away from this" he said. "I know I'm not the only one who feels it."

He interlaced their fingers and pulled her to him. He brushed the tip of her nose with his and he closed his eyes. Her heart jumped again.

"Just…" he whispered against her mouth and she closed her eyes.

He touched her lips with his again.

 _Until you're ready. And when you are, I'll still be here.  
_ _You always remember.  
_ _It'll always be because of you.  
_ _Because if you don't remember me, then what am I?  
_ _But what about me? Do you remember me?  
_ _Because if you weren't here, I don't know what I would do.  
_ _Caroline, I don't want you to come with me.  
_ _Because if I was able to hate him, everything would be easier. But I can't.  
_ _Sometimes I hear him, he talks to me, I hear his laugh like an echo that has stayed home.  
_ _Don't even say his name.  
_ _I've been going crazy thinking it was my fault, thinking I wasn't enough for him.  
_ _Because it's you. You are you. Tell me that you haven't forgotten me.  
_ _I'm already forgetting you.  
_ _I will remember for the both of us.  
_ _I forgive you.  
_ _Who are you?_

Caroline pushed him away suddenly, her mind being a mess. She opened her eyes widely and frowned, looking at his neck with a blank stare. She had just seen fast flashes, mingled flashes, confusing flashes.

She swallowed and looked at him. He was staring at her with a concerned look and a scared expression. She knew that he was scared of being rejected, of her pushing him away from her.

 _Caroline pushed him away suddenly, memories flooding her mind._

 _"No, wait" she said. "This isn't right."  
_ _"On the contrary" he said, breathing hard. "I think it's the best thing that has happened to me in a long time."_

 _Caroline's eyes filled with tears, and Stefan stopped smiling and looked worried at her._

 _"Caroline?"  
_ _"I have to go" she said, standing up and releasing his hand. "Sorry, I…"  
_ _"Hey, what's wrong?" he rose, trying to catch her hand again to soothe her, but she dodged him.  
_ _"I have to go."_

 _She walked away briskly, feeling as if she was drowning all over again, and as if that feeling of fear would never go away. Because she did not know what happiness was anymore. Because she was scared of being happy._

"It's not right" she said, shaking her head.  
"Caroline" he said, taking a step forward to take her hand again. "Please, don't say that. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me, as a friend, as a…"

Her eyes filled with tears. Stefan stopped talking and looked worried at her.

"Caroline?"  
"I gotta go" she said, releasing her hand from his grip. "Sorry, I…"  
"Hey, hey" he said, cupping her cheek with his hand. "What's wrong?"  
"I have to go" she said, pulling his hand away.

She walked away briskly, feeling something that was suffocating her. The feeling of fear. Of falling in love, of opening herself to someone. Of being hurt again. Again? How could she be scared of being hurt again when she had never fallen in love before?


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER VIII**

 _Stefan looked intently at her. He had never felt so exhausted in his life. His head had been aching for days since Valerie hexed him. Lily shook her head._

 _"I told you. There's no solution, son."  
_ _"There must be something" he said for the third time. "She must be able to undo the spell. Or siphon it out of me."_

 _Lily looked at him with scepticism._

 _"You've lost your mind, right? You're so desperate you can't even think clearly anymore."_

 _Stefan clenched his jaw and sat down on the sofa._

 _"If she siphons the spell, such potent spell, she'll probably siphon out all your magic, which means that you won't be a vampire anymore, and you'll die instantly."_

 _Stefan knew that. Deep down, he did. But Lily was right, he was desperate. He touched his chest, his heart, where Valerie had hexed him. He had a wound and it hurt so bad._

 _"Actually, if you don't change your mind, I'm sure she'll end up doing so just so you're away from her."  
_ _"Don't even mention her."  
_ _"Son, listen to me. You don't want to hear it, but if you don't come with us, Valerie will go after her" Lily said, sitting on her armchair, looking at the door. "This is why she did that" she said, pointing at his heart. "She got so angry when you took the house-"  
_ _"Our house, you mean."  
_ _"- from us" she continued, ignoring his comment. "Especially because you were with her. And then you went after Valerie because I told you she was planning on going after her. And you confronted her, why did you do that?"  
_ _"Why did I do that?" Stefan said, looking up. "I don't know, maybe because she wanted to hurt her? Maybe even kill her?"_

 _Lily sighed and looked away, pouring herself a glass of whiskey._

 _"Yes, and now you're the one who's cursed, forever" Lily said.  
_ _"Why didn't you do something, anything?"  
_ _"She's my family."  
_ _"I am your son!" Stefan cried, rising on his feet. Lily looked at him in silence.  
_ _"If you don't leave her, if you don't come with us, I assure you Valerie will get her somehow. Will you be able to live with that? Knowing that she's dead?"_

 _Stefan sat down again, feeling the tears in his eyes. He ran a hand over his face._

 _"Come with us" she said, placing a hand over his. "And let her live her life, let her move on. What's the point if you'll forget her eventually, anyway? She deserves better."_

 _Stefan looked down, making a great effort to not break down and cry in front of Lily. He pulled his hand away from hers and sniffed._

 _"We're leaving next week. Let me know your decision soon" she said, standing up and leaving the room._

 _Stefan dropped the keys on the little table of the hall with a sigh and an exhausted face and took off his shoes. He leaned his back against the wall, looking up at the stairs, and stood there for several minutes, just hearing her breathe as she slept in their bedroom._

 _Their bedroom. That sounded so good. He had gotten so used to her house, to her pillow, to her scent when waking up in the morning. To her giggles when he kissed her stomach down and down and down. And then, her sigh when he buried his face between her legs, her hands gripping and pulling his hair tightly._

 _Was it normal to feel so connected and attached to someone? He did not know how to say goodbye to her. She had been looking at him lately, suspicious since the day he went back to the boarding house late and she was waiting for them after Valerie had hexed him._

 _He started going upstairs and opened the door of her bedroom carefully. She had her back to him and seemed to be sleeping. He got on bed trying not to make any sound and brought himself closer to her back. He wrapped her waist with his arm and pulled her to him tightly, burying his face in her neck, inhaling the scent of her hair and her skin._

 _He let out a long sigh and Caroline smiled softly. She turned around and Stefan opened his eyes to look at her. She had not opened her eyes, but moved her lips closer to his, brushing them slightly._

 _"Where were you?" she said in a whisper with sleepy voice. Stefan kissed the tip of her noise.  
_ _"Just talking to Lily."_

 _Caroline froze a little and opened her eyes to look at him. He looked down at her with a little smile. She looked away and Stefan felt how his stomach twisted. He knew that she suspected something. She was not stupid._

 _"Hmm, where do you think we'll be in like… 100 years?"_

 _She smiled at him with that optimistic, bubbly smile of hers. He looked into her eyes with a sparkle in his eyes and a lump in his throat. He had to tell her. He needed to before it hurt even more._

 _But she was looking at him with those eyes and that smile, and he knew that he would not be able to. He tangled his fingers in her curls and smiled softly._

 _"I don't know" he said. "Probably kissing you somewhere. Maybe after a party in New York when you got drunk and I had to carry you home. Or here in Mystic Falls, under the stars."_

 _Caroline tried very hard not to smile proudly but it was impossible. She placed her hand against his chest and Stefan had to make a great effort to not wince due to the pain of the wound. He swallowed and smiled at her._

 _"You're so whipped" she said, giggling.  
_ _"What can I say?" he said, pursing his lips and squeezing her waist with his hand.  
_ _"You're so in love with me!" she laughed, putting her arms around his neck.  
_ _"Yeah" he said with a little smile. She pressed her lips against his as she laughed and he felt his eyes burning, tears threatening to show. "I am" he said against her lips._

 _He pushed her back with his hand to bring her closer to him, and he kissed her in such a desperate way that even Caroline was able to feel his distress somehow. She rolled over him, getting on top and straddling him, and he put an arm around her waist and pulled her to him, straightening up._

 _He started kissing her neck and down her clavicle and she closed her eyes. She was gripping his hair and squeezing his shirt when he hissed against her cleavage, stopping his kisses. She opened her eyes and pulled back to look at him._

 _He swallowed and looked down to avoid her suspicious look, but it was too late._

 _"Okay, what's going on?" she said, starting to unbutton his shirt quickly.  
_ _"Caroline, wai-"_

 _She opened his shirt widely and she saw the wound in his chest. Caroline pursed her lips and folded her arms, looking at him. He bit the inside of his cheek and looked away. She grabbed his chin with her hand to make him look at her._

 _"What?" he said.  
_ _"Why didn't you tell me?"  
_ _"Tell you what?" he muttered, since Caroline was pressing her fingers against his jaw and cheeks.  
_ _"That you had a fight with them the other day."_

 _Stefan sighed, giving up. It was very difficult to hide something when she was so close to him._

 _"Valerie threatened to hurt you and-"  
_ _"And you went after her, without telling me" Caroline interrupted him.  
_ _"Yeah, I'd die for you. Of course, I'd haunt you in the afterlife but really, it's the thought that counts" Stefan thought that he sucked at trying to make the situation funny, since she glared at him. "But it's okay now. Lily and I made a deal, I already told you."_

 _She looked at him with a questioning look and then lowered her gaze. She watched the wound and brushed it with her fingers carefully._

 _"I'm sure it'll heal soon" she said. Stefan doubted it. Maybe the physical wound would, but what about what he was about to lose? "It's just a wound, right?" she said with a smile, stroking his shoulders._

 _He did not say anything. He did not have the courage to. When she kissed him again, he felt the pain of the wound, the burn. It was probably his heart asking for help, not wanting to forget her._

Stefan rose immediately, breathing hard and covered in sweat. He led his hand to his chest instantly, feeling a strange pain, and then he looked at both of his shaking hands. At his right one now, and he thought that something was missing in his middle finger.

"Knock, knock" Elena looked at him, standing behind the half-open door. Stefan looked at her and swallowed. "Everything okay? I think you were having a nightmare. You were screaming."  
"Yeah, uh…" he let his hands drop, and his hand touched something on his lap. He had fallen asleep reading the story of lovers. Probably that was the reason why he had had that dream. He was becoming obsessed. So much so that since he had learned that the name of the girl was Caroline by reading one of his uncle's journals, he had been dreaming and dreaming weird things. How couldn't Caroline have seen weird that the names of the lovers were the same ones than theirs? There had to be a reason, and he was determined to know more about his uncle's story and Caroline's lineage. "I'm okay. I shouldn't read so late at night."

Damon appeared behind Elena and he entered the bedroom with a phone in his hand. Stefan grabbed the book discreetly and put it under the sheets. Damon stood in front of the bed and waved the phone.

"What?"  
"When are you going to call Carebear?"  
"Will you stop calling her like that?" Stefan said, rubbing his forehead. Elena shook her head.  
"It's been a week since she ran away from this house and you haven't talked to her yet" Damon said, acting like an impatient kid.  
"Yeah, well" Stefan got serious and clenched his jaw. "She doesn't want to. I tried and she's not interested."

Caroline, lying on her bed, looked intently at the phone on her bedside table with a frown and a concentrated expression. She took it just when Marien entered the bedroom with some of Caroline's folded clothes in her hands.

"I told you I can do that" Caroline said, looking up from her phone.  
"Let me feel useful, will you?" Marien said with a smile. Caroline sighed and she looked at her over her shoulder. She sat on the bed and looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Will you just call him, Care?"  
"Who?"  
"That boy you used to call your best friend?"

Caroline glared at her and Marien pursed her lips to restrain a smile.

"What happened between you two, Caroline?" she asked, tilting her head.  
"Happened?" Caroline said, nervous. "Nothing happened. Why would something have to happen? Why-"  
"He kissed you" Marien said, surprised. Caroline looked at her without knowing what to say. "He did" she said, verifying it thanks to Caroline's reaction.  
"It was wrong" Caroline said, looking away, blushing. "I don't think about him that way, he's my friend."  
"Who would make a great boyfriend" Marien smirked at her and Caroline rolled her eyes. "One: he's cute, and I know you find him sexy."  
"Marien!" Caroline hit her with the cushion in the arm and Marien laughed.  
"Two: he puts up with you, and we both know you're hard to handle."

Caroline folded her arms and leaned her back against the headboard.

"Three: I see the way he looks at you, Care."

Caroline looked at her aunt and she gave her a tender smile.

"I have to go" Caroline said, getting out of bed. Marien sighed, staring at her as she grabbed her bag and headed to the door.  
"One day you'll have to stop running, you know?" she said. "Haven't you thought why you've never fallen in love until now? You were waiting for the one."

Caroline opened her mouth to say something, but she shook her head and left. Marien smiled softly and looked at the picture on the bedside table. Marien had a baby Caroline on her lap almost 20 years ago.

* * *

 _"Stop!"_

 _Stefan stopped the car with a jam on the brakes. Caroline shook his arm and pointed at the sky. He followed the direction of her finger and he realized that there was a meteor shower._

 _"You want me to stop, right?" he asked.  
_ _"Duh."_

 _He smiled and parked the car on the side of the road. Caroline got out of the car as soon as the engine was off and he followed her. She sat on the hood of the car, looking at the sky excited, as if she was a child. Stefan sat next to her, looking at her all the time. She smiled, focused on the sky and the stars, and then she giggled._

 _His heart literally jumped. It started racing and he had to gulp to calm his nerves. She was so close yet so far away. He had to restrain himself so that he would not raise his hand to tangle his fingers in her hair._

 _Caroline gaped when she saw a shooting star._

 _"Did you see it?" she asked, excited. "Did you make a wish?"  
_ _"I did."_

 _She looked at him with a smile on her face._

 _"It's the first shooting star I've seen in my life. Sad, I know" she looked at the sky again.  
_ _"Nah, it's the first shooting star I ever see as well" he said, staring at her._

Caroline shook her head, trying to make those thoughts and memories disappear. She focused her gaze on the pages in front of him, sitting on her usual favourite box, as she read one of the journals of Stefan's uncle.

She raised her head when she heard footsteps and saw Stefan in the door. He looked nervous but eager to say something. Caroline cleared her throat before speaking.

"What are you doing here?" she said.  
"Just… I wanted to read some more journals" he said, entering the bedroom.  
"Huh" she said, looking down at hers again.

It would be a lie to say that she had not gone to that house because she had thought that he might be there. Deep down, she wanted to see him and that was driving her crazy. She sensed how Stefan sat on another box, taking a journal randomly to start reading.

The silence filled the room. The only thing heard was the turning of the pages. Caroline was staring at the words written on the pages, but she was not reading at all. She could not focus having Stefan so close. Besides, they had been ignoring each other for several days. Well, kind of.

"You haven't been answering my phone calls" Stefan mumbled without looking away from the book. Caroline pursed her lips and turned a page briskly.  
"Well, it's not like you've been calling me recently" she said with a harsh tone.

Stefan looked up at her now with a sceptical face.

"Are you kidding, Caroline?" he said. "I called you like three or four times a day."  
"Yeah, the first few days" she said, looking at him. "Then you stopped, am I wrong?"  
"Well, that's what happens when a person doesn't answer you calls, don't you think?" he said, imitating her tone.

She gritted her teeth and looked down at the journal again. Stefan looked at her for a few seconds, dying to close the distance between them, to make it disappear and simply touch her again. That situation was crazy.

Caroline, feeling his eyes on her, looked at him askance, and he looked down quickly, straightening a little.

"Could you be quiet? I'm trying to read" she said, looking for an excuse to keep talking. He looked at her again.  
"I didn't say anything."  
"Your breathing is very noisy."  
"Humans need to breathe in order to be able to survive, you know that, right?"  
"Well, can you breathe in silence or?"

They exchanged a look. Stefan could not help but laugh dismissively as he shook his head.

"You're so difficult" he mumbled.  
"Well, if I'm that difficult, why don't you just go and leave me alone?"  
"I didn't know you'd be here, Caroline" he lied. "I came to read."  
"I was here first."  
"But these are my uncle's journals."  
"But I was the one who found the house with them."

Another silent, exchanged look.

"I'm not going anywhere" he finally said.  
"Fine."  
"Fine."  
"In that case I'll leave because I don't want to see you anymore" she said, standing up and heading to the door.  
"Dandy" he said, following her with his eyes.  
"Great!" she said, going downstairs.

He clenched his jaw and looked at the journal. Then he rose on his feet and left the journal on the box.

"Caroline, wait!" he said, running towards the stairs.

He stepped on the living room and looked around, since he had not seen heard the door closing. Caroline was standing in front of the furniture with a photo in her hands, her back to him.

"Stefan?"  
"Huh?" he tried to sound as a tough guy.  
"Isn't this your dad?" she asked.

Stefan approached her and looked over her shoulder. Damon, a black woman, and a black little girl were in the picture.

"Yeah" he said.  
"It… He can't be" Caroline said, confused.  
"Why? That's clearly my dad."  
"Because that girl, the little one, is my aunt Marien."

Stefan frowned and Caroline stared intently at the picture.

"I mean" she said with wrinkles in her forehead, "Marien is older than your dad, how…?"

She closed her mouth, not able to understand. Stefan took the picture to have a better look.

"Are you sure it's her?" he asked.  
"I've seen pictures of her when she was a child, Stefan. And the other woman is Bonnie, her mom. I never met her, she was already dead when I was born, but…"  
"Well, maybe that's not my dad, maybe he's someone from my family who met your aunt, maybe-"  
"That doesn't make any sense" Caroline said.

They looked at each other in silence, and Stefan could not help but get distracted by her lips. Caroline, seeing his eyes fixed on her mouth, looked away, clearing her throat.

"Anyway, huh…" she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and stepped backwards. "Bye."

Stefan opened his mouth to say something but she turned around without looking at him. He closed his mouth when she left and clenched his jaw, realizing how stupid he was for not stopping her.

* * *

 _Bonnie sipped her lemonade, looking through the window of the cafeteria. She looked at the clock of the wall from the corner of the eye and then she sighed._

 _"Bonnie Bennet" a male voice said behind her. She turned around and looked at Daniel.  
_ _"Finally. I thought you were going to back out."  
_ _"You kidding? I always love a good mystery" he said, sitting in front of her. Bonnie smiled, shaking her head.  
_ _"I knew you wouldn't be able to refuse my offer" she said. She put a piece of paper in front of him. "So, you know the story."  
_ _"I can't believe she did it. I mean, I know she loved him, but… It's such a tragic story, the ripper and the girl that saved him in every possible way" his eyes sparkled with excitement. "Let me write their story. You know I've been into this for years."  
_ _"Someone else will carry out that task" Bonnie said. "That's what I need from you" she pointed at the paper._

 _Daniel took it and read._

 _"You need me to find Tyler Lockwood? Wasn't he a friend of yours?" he asked with a frown. Bonnie nodded.  
_ _"He was and still is, but I lost track of him years ago, I'm afraid. Maybe he doesn't want to be found, maybe he's living his life" she shrugged. "I don't even know if he knows about what happened with Caroline."  
_ _"So you need werewolf venom."  
_ _"Uh-huh."  
_ _"And you need me to find an original vampire because you need their blood?"  
_ _"Rebekah Mikaelson, she helped us in the past. I think she won't refuse."_

 _Daniel nodded, putting the paper inside the pocket of his jacket. He looked at her with interest._

 _"You're up to something" he said. Bonnie looked intently at him.  
_ _"I don't even know" she looked down. "I just know that I have to try. For them."_

 _Daniel nodded again and smiled softly._

 _"She was great."  
_ _"Yes, she was" Bonnie said, distracted.  
_ _"Why do you need me for this?"  
_ _"Because you're great at finding people or everything supernatural-related. And because I need someone from outside, someone who's not close to us and-"  
_ _"Damon?"  
_ _"Exactly. And because, well, I can't really make long trips…" Bonnie sighed and left some coins on the table. She rose on her feet, touching her belly, and Daniel looked at her with wide eyes.  
_ _"Wow" he said. "You're-"  
_ _"Pregnant, yes" Bonnie said. "So, can I count on you for this?"  
_ _"Sure" Daniel nodded. "Just send me a copy of the story once it's written" he winked at her and she laughed.  
_ _"I'll make sure Enzo gets in touch with you for that" she grabbed her bag, ready to leave. "Thank you, Daniel."_

Caroline sighed for the fifth time. She and Alex were sitting on the grass, in front of the principal building of Mystic Halls High. Alex looked at her from the corner of the eye. Caroline had that book on her lap again.

"Are you reading that again?" Alex asked. "Isn't it the book that Stefan gave to you?"

Alex snatched it from her hands to read the title.

"Hey!"  
" _Norwegian Wood_ , again. Shocker."  
"Stop, it's a good book" she said, grabbing it again. Alex was the one who sighed now.  
"Look, your writer is there" she said, looking at the entrance.

Caroline got nervous suddenly and pulled the book to Alex's hands again. She did not want Stefan to see her reading it. It might look as if she missed every part of him, everything about him. Which was true, anyway.

She looked askance at the main door. Stefan was there, talking with a classmate.

"You know, friends who know each other's very specific coffee orders and can get each other out of guilt spirals and can take mysterious secretive road trips to other cities…"  
"Alex" Caroline said, glaring at her.  
"What? I'm just saying that you should give yourself a chance, you know? You've dated guys, but you've never…"

Caroline looked away and Alex sighed.

"Care, why are you so scared of-"  
"I don't know if I'm capable of loving someone, okay?" she finally said. Alex frowned at her. "I don't know if I can love someone, and I don't know if anyone can love someone like me. I mean, look at me. I'm a mess, I'm inappropriate, I always say the wrong thing and-"  
"Caroline, stop" Alex said. "Do you really, really think he thinks that of you?"

Caroline looked at her sadly and then at him again. He was still talking with his friend, but as if he felt her eyes on him, he looked around until his eyes set on her. They exchanged a long look until she swallowed and looked down again. Stefan bit his lower lip and looked away too, nodding.

She looked down at the book on the grass between them. It was open in one of her favourite pages, where _I want you to always remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?_ was written.

* * *

"And that's what happens, Anny, with boys" Caroline said, staring at her ice cream.

Anny, a 7 year-old girl, was walking next to her, with an ice cream cone in her hand too. Caroline used to be called by her parents to be her nanny sometimes when they had to work during the afternoons.

"They say they're your friends. I mean, they ask you not to jump off a window, then they invite you to a drink and see the falls with you, you know? Then you agree to help them write a story, because why not? But after that you both start getting closer and closer, and you're not friends anymore, but best friends. And you probably want to know why."  
"Uh…"  
"Simple" Caroline said. "Because you tell them about your parents, about your fears, you open up to them, you know? You let them see through you. And then you go to New York with them, but first you end up in a motel, and" she looked askance at Anny, who frowned at her. "Well, um, you have weird dreams with them. But the thing is that you go to a party with them, and you dance there, and it's… I don't know, magic?" she covered her face with her hands and shook it.  
"But-"  
"But the worst thing happens afterwards, because you kiss them. Well, they do, but you kiss them back, but it was wrong because it was just… a slip, you know? Because you're friends, nothing more. So you want to keep the friendship, and that's why you pretend not to remember that kiss. And you try to keep your distance, but for some reason you keep being pulled to them and then they name a star after you!"

Anny gaped at her and smiled, excited.

"What kind of guy does that?" Caroline said, shaking her head. "And they kiss you and tell you they feel something for you and-"

Caroline stopped suddenly and Anny imitated her. Stefan was some feet away, at the entrance of a repair shop. She had completely forgotten that Stefan started a part-time job there the week before. He was fixing a car, and he was not wearing a shirt.

"What happened after he kissed you?" Anny asked, finishing her ice cream cone and looking expectantly at her.  
"Uh…" Caroline looked at the bench in front of the repair shop. Some teenage girls were sitting there, looking at Stefan and laughing in a very silly way. "Well, he…"

Caroline felt a painful sensation in the side of her head. A ball had hit her after one kid kicked it. Anny made a wince, looking at Caroline. Her cone had dropped to the ground. The adolescents laughed at Caroline.

"Great" Caroline mumbled with gritted teeth, looking down at her cone.

Stefan, hearing the laughs and the noise, looked towards where Caroline and Anny were standing. He frowned, cleaning his hands with a cloth. Caroline looked up and met his gaze. She got startled at seeing him looking at her and turned around quickly to walk away. Anny looked at Caroline completely confused and followed her.

"Caroline!" Stefan dropped the cloth on the car and ran towards her.  
"Don't turn around, Anny" Caroline mumbled, taking her hand and walking fast.  
"But where are we going?" Anny asked.  
"Caroline" Stefan had reached them and he stood in front of them to make Caroline stop. "Are you okay? The head."

Caroline could not help but look at his chest. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and swallowed.

"Uh…" she bit the inside of her cheek, trying to look away from his abs. Anny looked at her, trying to restrain a smile.

Another kid that was playing football too pushed Caroline by accident and she crashed into Stefan, one of her hands landing against his chest, the other one against his stomach. His skin was warm against hers, and her legs were shaking. He hissed and pursed his lips to restrain a smile.

"Are you Stefan?" the little girl asked. Caroline stepped backwards quickly and cleared her throat.  
"Um, yeah, why?"  
"You named a star after her?!" she jumped, excited. She reminded Stefan of a mini Caroline. He smiled at her and Caroline wrapped her tiny waist with her arms to lift her and hold her.  
"She told you that?" Stefan asked her. Anny nodded with a smile.  
"You should go back to work" Caroline said, her cheeks blushing. "And, uh… Put some shirt on before those girls flood the street with their drool."

Stefan frowned slightly, analyzing Caroline.

"Okay" he said, trying not to laugh.

She nodded, turned around and walked away. Anny, in Caroline's arms, waved at Stefan with a little smile. He smiled and waved back, shaking his head.

"He's cute, Care" Anny whispered in her ear.

* * *

 _"Then, how does anyone ever seem to move on?" he asked after giving her a spin and then pulling her to him, not letting go her hand.  
"I don't know" she placed her hand on his shoulder. "I think that someday you'll meet someone new and you'll fall madly in love" she smiled. "And you'll have moved on without even realizing it."_

 _She looked at him and he stared intently into her eyes, as if only they knew something that was hidden within them and that would come out one day. They kept dancing and he looked down, taking a deep breathe._

 _She looked up at him._

 _"You knew" he opened his eyes at hearing her. "That's why you let me go, because you knew the whole time, didn't you?  
_ _"Knew what?" he asked.  
_ _"That I couldn't do it."_

 _He blinked several times, thoughtful._

 _"Not that you couldn't do it" he said, turning his head to her and looking into her eyes. "That you wouldn't do it."_

 _She adjusted her head over the covers as he kept staring at her._

 _"And how?" she asked, meeting his eyes again. He looked at her with a hint of smile, an affective, tender one.  
_ _"Because that's what makes you, you."_

 _She could not help but smile. He closed his eyes and she brought her forehead closer to his head, resting hers on his shoulder._

 _"I know that she asked you to look after me."  
_ _"Caroline, that's not-"  
_ _"And I'm okay with it" she interrupted him. "Really, I'm glad, actually. 'Cause I don't know if I'd be able to get through this on my own."_

 _He licked his lips and nodded._

 _"I'm not here because your mom asked me to look after you."  
_ _"Then why are you here?" she asked, looking down.  
_ _"Well, because, you're my friend" he said. She looked ahead, not very pleased. "Because I know what it feels like to lose a mother" he continued. Since she was not looking at him, he raised his hand to touch her hair and tucked it behind her ear in order to catch her attention. "And because" he stroked her neck with his fingers and she looked at him, "when you told me you hated me, it's pretty much the worst thing I have heard, in a long time" he smiled.  
_ _"I think we both know I never really hated you" she said._

 _He looked into her eyes and then down at her lips. She did the same thing, not being able to ignore how close he was and how much she wanted to move closer to him. He swallowed and took a step forward, stroking down her arm with his hand. She gave a step forward as well, her heart racing. He gulped again due to the nerves, leaning forward until the tip of his nose brushed her cheek and he closed his eyes. He felt her breathe against his lips and closed them between her upper one, finally kissing her. They remained still for a second before she kissed him again, and he placed his hand in her neck, touching her curls with his fingers, and feeling how his heart was warmed thanks to her closeness._

 _He smiled at hearing her giggle when he span her, the two of them on the same porch of the previous image. The same cabin, the same place, but probably months afterwards. He pulled her to him again, placing his hand against the small of her back. He smiled at her._

 _"What?"  
_ _"Nothing, just…" she shook her head, smiling, playing with the neck of his jacket. "Who knew Stefan Salvatore was such a romantic."_

 _He rolled his eyes and brought his mouth closer to her cheek, brushing her skin with his lips. She closed her eyes when he squeezed her waist with his hand gently._

 _"Happy birthday" he whispered against her cheek. She pulled back to look at him and he looked at her lips. She laughed and pulled him to her to press her lips against his. He laughed too, especially when she pushed him not so gently against the wall. "Ca-" she bit his lower lip and he smiled. "Are you trying to kill me?" he asked as she captured his lip between her teeth.  
_ _"Sorry" she said with a shy laugh. He bit the inside of his cheek and put his arms around her waist to pull her even closer. "It's just that it's the first birthday we spend together, as a couple. And it's so exciting because" she widened her eyes with enthusiasm and he pursed his lips to restrain a smile "if you think about it, we'll probably come back here when I'm, I don't know, 800 years old and you'll be like… 1000" she let out a laugh and he narrowed his eyes at her.  
_ _"Are you calling me old?" he said, pinching her waist.  
_ _"You have always been old, Stefan" she said, rolling her eyes.  
_ _"What does that suppose to mean?"  
_ _"Well, you're an old soul, you know that. Always broody, moody, melancholic…"  
_ _"Hey!"  
_ _"And I'm a young soul" she said, proud.  
_ _"I'm not always broody, not when I'm with you."  
_ _"Yeah, I know" she giggled, stroking his chest. "So, anyway, as I was saying, it's the first birthday we spend together, so I bought something."_

 _She pulled away, though she had it difficult because Stefan did not want to let go of her hand._

 _"You know? It's your birthday, I'm the one who has to buy stuff, not you."  
_ _"It's just a camera, Stefan" she said, pulling the device out of her bag.  
_ _"For what?"_

 _She raised her eyebrows at him and he realized how stupid he had sounded._

 _"I mean-"  
_ _"I want to keep memories of everything" she placed the camera on the table and ran backwards towards Stefan again until he grabbed her waist with his hands. "Can you smile? Or am I going to have to force you?"  
_ _"Will you just give me a break?" he bit her neck playfully just when the camera made the picture._

Stefan blinked several times before opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. He had gotten used to those dreams. At first, he had thought that reading about his uncle so much provoked them. And maybe he was right, since his imagination seemed to form the same situations that he read in his head when he slept. But now, he was intrigued and curious about them and whether there was any chance for them to be similar to reality or not. Besides, not remembering the faces of his uncle and the girl that was with him every time he woke up was driving him crazy.

He set his eyes on his phone, wanting to call her, to tell her about those dreams and to ask her if she thought he was being crazy. He also wanted to listen to her voice, or see her again, but he did not know how to act or what step to take. This was a new territory to him, and he did not want to ruin things between them even more.

He did not know what he was waiting for though. He had walked in front of her house several times already, trying to knock on the door or ring the bell and fix things between them. But he had always ended up leaving, defeated and more confused than before. At the same time, he kind of hoped that she would return to him somehow. Even if she just wanted to be friends with him, he would take that if it meant not losing her.

He flopped on the bed of his uncle some minutes later. It was late, and Damon and Elena were sleeping tight in their bedroom. He rubbed his eyes, tired, and then looked around. He found himself in a dead-end street. He did not know what to do next. Caroline was usually the one who gave ideas.

He looked around, biting the inside of his cheek, until he laid his eyes on the jewelry box. He stood up and walked over the desk where it was placed. He brought his fingers closer to it and brushed the box with his fingertips, his stomach becoming a spiral of nerves. Somehow, he had the feeling that there was something important about the story of his uncle inside. His forehead wrinkled when his eyes caught an envelope under the little box.

He grabbed it quickly and took the picture and paper that were kept inside. Some coordinates and directions written on the paper; a photo taken of a place, a cabin, somewhere. The cabin that appeared in his dreams.

* * *

He began to think that everything was strange and weird as he drove following the coordinates and directions of the GPS the next day. All those sketchy hints made him think that the story of his uncle was a secret for a reason, but he was determined to find out why and what had really happened.

Besides, there were journals missing in that house that Caroline found. He had read all of them and he had realized that the story was incomplete because the dates between some and others were very different and there were holes and parts missing.

The book of the story of the lovers matched with a lot of the content of the journals, but he did not know if it was a fictional story after all even if it was based on a real story. The spells, magic, and supernatural drama seemed to be just a tale created by Enzo.

He entered the property with the car, hearing the little stones and twigs under the wheels until he stopped the vehicle in front of the cabin. He got out of the car and looked at the façade of the lodge. The bushes and plants on the ground were sloppy, the floor and steps of the porch were full of dust and more stones and twigs probably because of the wind, some windows were misted while others were covered with boards, like the front door. And there was a small blue and pink bike next to a tree at one side of the cabin. It probably had belonged to a little girl once.

He moved his feet towards the porch and climbed the three steps. The floor creaked under his weight. He was standing right in the place where his uncle and his girlfriend had been dancing the day of her birthday. He approached one of the windows that were not covered with a board and tried to see something through the glass, but it was very filthy. That place was completely empty, and it seemed that no one had been there for years.

He tried to strip off the boards of the door, but there was no way to do it without some tool and his toolbox was at the repair shop. He pulled away and snorted, folding his arms and mad at not being able to find anything that could help him discover something else.

His eyes wandered around and he saw an empty bottle on the windowsill. He grabbed it to read the label when he saw something hidden placed between two of the boards of the window. He tried very hard and managed to pull it out. He unfolded the torn picture and he focused his eyes on the image in front of him. He was staring at himself. His face got pale and his eyes widened at the man smiling as he bit the neck of someone, looking at the camera. It was him. His eyes, his nose, his mouth, his hair. His face was identical.

 _Caroline stepped on the porch and looked at the screen of her phone for the seventh time. Her eyes looked reddened and tired for crying. Her face was pale and her lips pallid._

 _It had been the first place she had gone to after he left. She had wanted to believe that he would be there, in the place where they had shared so many happy and special moments. It was their little home, their secret getaway when they did not want to be found._

 _Caroline looked around with a desperate look and sobbed again, not being able to restrain her emotions. Stefan had been right that day when he had taught her how to hunt bunnies in the woods. When you were a vampire, your emotions were very magnified. And now the feeling of being abandoned and left behind was eating her alive._

 _She felt as if she was drowning, suffocating, dying. She covered her ears, trying to silence all the noise around her, the memories of her mind. She opened her eyes and looked ahead. It was cloudy, and her breathing was very heavy. She started to breathe in and out as Stefan taught her when he calmed her down in the bathroom years ago. She was scared of losing her mind._

 _She looked at her left and saw the empty bottle that they had drunk the day when they had kissed for the first time. She took it in her hand, with a strong desire to throw it against the wall. She placed it back on the windowsill and called him again._

 _She waited with the phone against her ear, listening to the beeps._

 _"Pick up" she whispered with weak voice._

 _The call went to voicemail and she hung up._

 _"This isn't happening" she said to herself, her heart beating fast. She looked at the glass of the window, seeing the picture of them put between the frame and the glass. She was laughing and he was biting her neck playfully with a wide smile, both of them looking at the camera in that same porch._

 _She felt very sick suddenly and took the picture, staring intently at Stefan. Her hands started shaking and she could not help but rip the photograph in two parts, very angry. She let her part of the picture fall from her hands and she gripped Stefan's._

 _She turned around and leaned her back against the wall, crying and sobbing as words that did not make any sense came out from her mouth. She sat there, on the floor of the porch, in a weird position, gripping Stefan's picture and wiping the tears of her cheeks constantly._

 _"Come back, please" she sobbed with a lump in her throat. "Please."_

 _She did not know how much time she spent there, staring at the ground with a blank, lost gaze with an inexpressive face. She was tired of crying and it was starting to get cold._

 _She heard the engine of a car some hours later. Someone got out of the car and walked over to her, but she did not look up. She also felt Damon's eyes staring at her from the car, but she was not in the mood to share any look with him. Bonnie crouched down in front of her, putting a blanket over her shoulders carefully and looking at her with concern._

 _"Care" she said with soft tone._

 _Caroline sobbed and closed her eyes, shaking her eyes as she started crying again. Bonnie looked at her with a sad face and stroked her cheek._

 _"We've been looking for you everywhere, we were worried, I thought…"_

 _She closed her mouth before saying any crazy idea._

 _"I should've known you'd be here" Bonnie wiped the tears of her cheeks and Caroline gulped with difficulty. She needed to say it aloud, she needed to hear it and tell someone or she would explode.  
_ _"He's gone" her voice broke down, gripping the blanket around her. "I don't know where he is, I don't know what's going on."_

 _Bonnie looked at her, worried. She lowered her gaze to the floor where Caroline's picture was. Then she saw Stefan's part on her lap and took both parts of the torn photo to put them inside the pocket of her jacket._

 _"Come on, let's go home, okay?" Bonnie said, taking Caroline's hands in hers to help her stand up.  
_ _"I can't" Caroline shook her head. "What if he comes back? What if this is the first place he-"  
_ _"Caroline" Damon appeared behind Bonnie. She did not look at him. "Come on, stand up or I will have to take you myself, and I'm sure none of us want to see that."  
_ _"Here, take my hand" Bonnie said with a soft voice. "Everything will be okay, I promise. We'll figure this out."_

 _Caroline looked at Bonnie and the brunette nodded, offering her comfort with her look. Caroline trusted her somehow and took her hand to stand up._

 _That was the last time she went to the cabin. Damon covered the doors and windows with boards months later after he found out about Stefan's curse._

Stefan swallowed hard, feeling overwhelmed by what he was seeing. He sat down on the steps of the porch slowly, giving himself a couple of minutes to take in that his uncle looked exactly like him.

He did not know that someone was staring at him from the woods in front of the cabin, behind a tree.

"Huh" Enzo mumbled, looking at him. He took his phone and after dealing a number, placed it against his ear. "Hey, it's me" he said without taking his eyes off of Stefan. "He saw the photo. He seems pretty… screwed up" he said with a hint of a laugh in his voice. "Yeah, yeah. Just do what she told you to do, I guess it's time."

* * *

"Oh! Look who's here!"

Caroline jumped in front of the milk area when someone appeared suddenly by her side. Damon was there with a shopping cart and he was smiling at her widely.

"Hi, sir. Doing the shopping?" Caroline asked with a little smile.  
"Yeah, I prefer to do it. Elena only buys healthy things and I like to grab some snacks, so" he lied. He used to follow Caroline sometimes and he knew that she did the shopping there.

Caroline nodded. She wanted to ask him about Stefan's whereabouts. She had not seen him the day before at school and she was starting to get worried.

"We haven't seen you in a while" Damon said. Caroline looked at him and bit her lower lip.  
"Yeah, I know. I've been busy" Caroline started to walk down the hall and Damon followed her to walk next to her, pulling the cart.  
"Or maybe you've been confused since my son kissed you" he winked at her and Caroline blushed immediately. She cleared her throat and stopped in front of the jams. "He's been a mess since then too."

Caroline looked at one of the jams intently.

"So" Damon said, trying to make conversation. "Do you like him?"

Caroline looked at him, surprised at how direct he was.

"Look, I know what you're going through because, you know, I've been in love too."

Caroline opened her mouth to reply but he continued and did not let her speak.

"And Elena and I have had so many ups and down" he rolled his eyes. "You can't even imagine. But after those obstacles, everything fit again, and what looked like a lost cause turned out to be a second chance."

She looked at him in silence and Damon shrugged.

"I know exactly what you're going through" he continued. "And I know you think you don't deserve to be happy" he looked intently into her eyes, thinking that it was his second chance to talk to her, to the Caroline that he once knew and to this new one at the same time. Pretending he was talking to Caroline felt good and refreshing. "You're scared of giving yourself a chance because you think that as soon as you get to be happy, something will happen and it'll make you miserable."

Caroline glanced at the floor and swallowed. Funny coordination and parallel, Damon thought.

"But you know what? If you don't give yourself a chance, you'll never know whether it could've worked or not. And listen, my son may be a weirdo, melancholic guy, but you're his best friend and I think he likes you" he smirked at her and she rolled her eyes, smiling. "Just think about it, give him a chance."

She looked at him, not very convinced.

"Look, call me selfish, but I need him to be happy."

Caroline looked away for a few seconds and then opened her mouth to ask the question she was dying to know.

"I don't know where he is" Damon interrupted her. "He told me he was going to see some old friends. So maybe he's in New York to catch up with Seth or Lexi or… Sophie" he started to whistle, looking around, in order to provoke a reaction from her.  
"Wait, what?"  
"I mean, who knows, since she's so cuckoo, she might be following him anywhere" he continued. Caroline could not help but clench her jaw and look away and Damon smiled at her jealousy. Something sparkling hanging from her neck caught his attention.

He froze, watching Caroline's engagement ring in a pendant around her neck.

"I should go" Caroline cleared her throat, trying to hide her bad humour after hearing about Sophie. "My aunt is probably-"  
"Where did you get that?" he asked, pointing at the ring.

Caroline looked down at her neck, confused. She took the ring between her fingers. Damon was not able to look away from the jewel.

"Oh, this? I don't know, actually" she said. "My aunt gave it to me when I was a child" she shrugged and Damon swallowed, feeling a shiver running through his spine. "Um, you okay?"  
"Yeah" Damon said, looking up at her. "I… I gotta go. It's been good to see you, Caroline."  
"Yeah, you too" she said with a little smile. "And, thanks for the advice" she said shyly.

Damon nodded and walked away pushing the cart as Caroline followed him with her eyes. 15 minutes later, she was almost home when her phone rang.

"Yeah, I have everything for that cake, Marien" she said. "What? Ugh, do not start again, okay? I told you I'm not going to call Stefan to ask him to make it. I know you love his cook skills, but could you pretend for at least a minute that you trust me to make a good cake? […] He's in New York, aunt, he's not going to come to make you a cake. Besides, he's having the time of his life with his ex, apparently" she said with bitter tone. "No, I just mean-"

Caroline stopped when she saw a man standing on the porch of their house. She frowned, since his face was not familiar.

"I have to hang up, Marien. There's a man outside the house. See you later."

The man rang the bell of the door again and waited, looking at the door. He seemed impatient. Caroline climbed the three steps of the porch and cleared her throat.

"Can I help you?"

The man turned around and widened his eyes at seeing her.

"Unbelievable" he mumbled, looking her up and down with a wide smile and shocked eyes. Caroline felt a little uncomfortable and looked at him with raised eyebrows.  
"I'm sorry, do I know you? Are you looking for someone or…?"  
"I'm Daniel" he offered his hand to her and she shook it, a little confused. "I've heard you and a friend have been investigating about the story of the lovers of the cemetery. Great book, I wish I could have helped writing it" he let out a sigh. "Isn't it just great how a ripper was saved by this woman? How she was his cure in any kind of way? Her love for him saved him" he looked at her, excited, and she frowned.  
"Yeah, uh, sure. Look, I have to…" she pointed at the door.  
"Oh, wait" he looked for something inside the pocket of his jacket. "Here, it's an address, in case you and friend want to keep looking. It's an important place of the story, maybe it'll help you."  
"Thank you" she said, taking the piece of paper.

He kept looking at her with a wide smile and she could not help but laugh.

"Listen, are you okay? Have you taken any kind of-"  
"I'm fine, it's just good to see you" he said.  
"But we don't even…"  
"Oh, wait, I was forgetting something" he opened his backpack to look for something. Seconds later he pulled out a flower. It was a yellow tulip, and he handed it to her.

 _"What happened to them?" Daniel asked._

 _Caroline swallowed hard and looked away at the window._

 _"He left, and she was never able to forget him. But he did."  
_ _"Oh, come on. For being a ripper, he seemed very much in love. Why would he forget someone like her?"_

 _She turned her face slowly to him and looked at him with bright eyes. She smiled slightly, trying to keep the tears in her eyes. He shrugged with a smile._

 _"I knew there had to be a reason why you didn't like my tulips."_

 _Caroline could not help but laugh as a tear fell down her cheek._

"Uh, thank you, I guess" she said, taking the flower. Daniel looked at her expectantly. "I prefer orchids though."

His lips formed a smile slowly.

"Yeah" he said, passing next to her. "I guessed so." Caroline turned her head to him and he, walking away, looked at her over his shoulder. "Good luck with your searching."

* * *

She had looked at him from the opposite side of the football field. It was the month of the football tournament between different high schools, and Mystic Falls High School was one of the schools that competed.

Stefan was wearing his uniform. She knew he did not like those competitive sports or games, though, so she knew that it definitely was not being the time of his life. She had blushed when she had caught him looking at her when the cheerleaders began the competition with their starting performance.

 _And then you showed up in that office with that damn cheerleader uniform._

The only thought of his words had made her blush and look down. She, however, wanted him to keep looking at her as much as he would like. He made her feel special somehow. He always made her feel special. And desired. And she liked that.

But things had gotten complicated after the tournament. Mystic Falls High School had won, of course, but there was always a party at the Grill after the match to make the students of both schools get to know each other and socialize. And the captain of the opposite team had been following Caroline and trying to flirt with her all night. Stefan had been keeping an eye on them even if he had tried to just celebrate with the players of his team. Seeing Caroline with that guy all the time had not let him enjoy the win completely. Especially because Caroline had seemed to let him flirt with her.

She was mad after hearing about Sophie, so she could not help but try to make Stefan jealous with that insignificant guy, who, by the way, was very annoying. The situation got out of her hands though when she saw how Stefan clenched his jaw for the sixth time that night, placed his glass on the bar and walked over to the door. Caroline pushed the guy away quickly and ran after him, but he had left the Grill without looking at her once. She stopped and looked at the door, regretting her momentary moment of weakness and stupidity.

That whole situation was probably the reason why she was standing in front of the door of his house the next night. She was grabbing her own hands nervously, but she was tired, exhausted of missing him. And she wanted and needed him back in her life. She missed her best friends.

When Stefan opened the door and saw her, he froze and stood still, surprised of seeing her there.

"Hey" she said with a lump in her throat. She seemed as surprised as he was.  
"Hey" he said.  
"So I just wanted to-"  
"About the other night…"

She closed her mouth and looked at him very nervous. He seemed to feel her spiral of emotions, so he thought that maybe it would be a better idea to let her speak first. He did not want to ruin things again.

"Listen, I… I just wanted to say that I uh, I missed you" she said.  
"You did?" he asked her sceptically.  
"Of course I did, Stefan" she said with impatience.  
"Huh."

Caroline took a deep breath and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Stefan thought she looked adorably shy when she did that. Especially because she was not shy at all.

"Listen, I…"  
"Caroline, just tell me. What are your thoughts? I mean, what do you want?"  
"I just thought we could go back to whatever the hell we were!"

He looked intently at her and she looked away.

"You're my best friend, I don't want to lose you" she looked at her feet and Stefan felt as if someone threw a bucket of frozen water over him.  
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kissed you" he said. She looked up at him with a questioning look. "It was stupid, I was stupid. I don't know what I was thinking, actually. I think I just got confused, you know, because I have never been able to have a best friend. Girl, I mean. And that kind of confused me a little and…" Stefan looked over her shoulder. He wanted to punch himself for believing that maybe he would have been able to have a chance with Caroline. "It was just an impulse, a plain, simple impulse. One that is gone."

Caroline watched his face and he offered her a little smile of pursed lips. She was confused by his change of mood.

"So just… Friends?"

She looked at him with a questioning look and he thought to feel some kind of disappointing tone in the sound of her voice.

"Yeah, sure" he said, nodding. Caroline bit her lower lip and nodded too, looking away. "Sorry again. Kissing you wasn't right."

Caroline felt as if someone kicked her in the stomach. She had thought things would turn out differently.

"It's okay, I mean… I overreacted. And it's not such a big deal, so why getting so mad and angry?" she rolled her eyes and looked down, thinking how stupid she had been in that moment for rejecting him and right now for realizing that there had to be a reason for her to have gotten so stressed when he kissed her. "I guess it meant… It meant nothing, right?"

She looked at him and he opened his mouth to say something. He did not find the words and looked down, but then he looked up again and found courage to keep pretending that things were good.

"Right, because what I did was a mistake."  
"Yeah."  
"Okay. Well, then, yes, I guess that puts up back to just being friends."

She nodded and he rubbed his neck.

"Well, uh… Do you want to come in? My parents are in New York this weekend, so I'm on my own and it's been a little bit boring."  
"Sure" she said. He closed the door behind them and they walked over to his bedroom.  
"I have to tell you so many things about my uncle."  
"Me too!" she said. "The weirdest thing happened to me."  
"What?"  
"Someone showed up in my house and gave me an address related to your uncle. I don't know what it is, but… Look, Redmond" she showed the paper to him and he nodded. She flopped on his bed.  
"I found a picture of my uncle, and, look" he handed the picture to her. "He looks exactly like me."

Caroline stared at the photo with an open mouth.

"This is so messed up, Stefan" she whispered.  
"I guess it's some family gen or something" he shrugged before flopping onto her side.

They stared at the ceiling. Caroline felt a shiver when his arm brushed hers. She understood those feelings now. And she was scared to admit that maybe it was too late. She moved her fingers a little, missing his touch, dying to interlace them with his.

"So… What do you think about that address?" he said, breaking the silence.

They caught up for hours, thinking about different possibilities and theories, until she started to fall asleep, closing her eyes slowly. He watched her sleep for a few seconds and stroked her cheek. He sighed, shaking his head.

"I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. I wish you just…" he let out another sigh. "I love you."


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER IX**

 _He's not learning. He's not experiencing. He's remembering.  
_ James Dashner.

…

Caroline stretched her right arm, looking for him with her hand. She opened her eyes, disoriented and dishevelled, and saw him sleeping on the armchair, with his chin against his chest.

She hugged herself with her own arms, thinking of how empty the bed was without him by her side. She felt like yelling at him to wake him up and ask him why he had not slept in the bed next to her. But, of course, what right did she have after making it so difficult on him?

She sighed and got out of bed as she checked her phone. She had a lot of texts from Marien, worried about her and her whereabouts. She replied to her quickly to calm her down, but she skipped the part of telling her that she had spent the night with Stefan.

She looked at him then and watched him sleep. He had to be very uncomfortable sleeping in that chair. She pouted a little, thinking that it was the first time that Stefan had put distance between them that way. They had slept in the same bed several times before, so what was the big deal now? He probably wanted to keep the distance to avoid more misunderstandings. And that, well, that made her a little angry, even though she knew she was behaving like a spoilt child.

She was heading to the door when something caught her attention. There was a teddy bear on the floor, in a corner of the bedroom, and she had not paid attention to it until now. She pursed her lips to restrain a smile, but her eyes wandered on the toy for several seconds. She took it and stared intently at it.

 _Bonnie was about to knock on the open door when she saw her, standing with her back towards her in front of the desk. It was rare to see her out of the bed, and she could not help but feel hopeful. Maybe Caroline was feeling better that morning, maybe she had had a moment of clarity that night and she was willing to abandon that depressing hole where she lived now._

 _"Care?"_

 _Caroline straightened a little, but she did not turn around. Bonnie approached her from behind until she stood next to her. Caroline had Ms Cuddles in her hands, and she was staring at the teddy bear with some spark in her eyes._

 _"Hey" Bonnie stroked her arm.  
_ _"I remember when he and I spent a whole day in the woods looking for this."_

 _Bonnie looked down, restraining a sigh. She had been way too hopeful._

 _"Do you want to go for a walk? Of we could go to the town and go shopping, if you prefer."_

 _Caroline shook her head, refusing the offer._

 _"It's going to be alright, Bonnie."_

 _Bonnie frowned and looked at her. Caroline smiled a little, very slightly, and Bonnie wondered if she was imagining it. Caroline looked at her friend. She looked tired, exhausted, and yet it was like she had had a good night after all. Bonnie was afraid of her losing her mind._

 _"I've seen it in my dreams" she continued.  
_ _"What?"  
_ _"We were standing on a porch, Stefan was there. He was alive, and happy" Caroline smiled at Ms Cuddles, Bonnie felt a shiver running through her spine. "The sun was setting, and the weather was warm" she looked up and Bonnie followed the direction of her eyes. "He told me he loved me. And then he kissed me."_

 _Bonnie looked at her askance._

 _"It's going to be fine" she continued, and left the bear on the desk. Bonnie felt a little uncomfortable. "He's still out there, somewhere, waiting."_

 _Bonnie swallowed hard and stroked her arm again. It had not been the first time that Caroline had said things like that._

 _"Caroline, listen. Just-"  
_ _"Is Damon home?"_ _Caroline asked, turning around and walking over to the door.  
_ _"Uh…" she followed her with her eyes, worried. "Yeah, he… He came back last night."_

 _Caroline nodded and left the room. Bonnie looked at Ms Cuddles from the corner of her eye and sighed._

"What are you doing?"

The sleepy and thick voice of Stefan startled her. Caroline looked at him, watching him stretch his arms and yawn. Why did he look so damn good and hot right after waking up in the morning? It was not fair.

"I didn't know you liked teddy bears so much" she said with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Stefan frowned at her, somewhat confused.  
"That's not mine" he said, standing up. "It was already there when I moved in."  
"It's cute" Caroline said. "Although I think I could fix it a little and just, you know, stitch it up."

Stefan looked at her, amused.

"What?"  
"Nothing" he shook his head with pursed lips.  
"Why did you sleep there?" Caroline could not help but ask. The question had sounded very direct and Stefan looked around.  
"Uh, well, I don't know. Thought you'd be more comfortable without me moving all the time."  
"But you barely move while sleeping, Stefan. I am the one who does" she told him, analyzing him with her eyes. "Is everything okay?"

He barely looked at her in the eye and it was making her feel nervous and frustrated.

"Yeah, I just…" he rubbed his neck. "Seriously, it's okay, I just wanted you to sleep well. That's all."

She gave a slight nod, looking down. Stefan pointed at the door.

"I am… going to make breakfast" she followed him with her eyes as he approached the door. "Is there anything you want to, in particular?"

 _You_.

"Coffee and toasts will do" she said. He nodded and he was about to leave when she called him. "So, when are we going to Redmond, then?"

He turned to her with a confused look.

"We?"  
"Yeah."  
"You want to come?"  
"Of course I want to" she said. "We went to New York and it was fun, wasn't it?"

Caroline suddenly remembered their first kiss and froze a little. He seemed to remember it as well, since he lowered his gaze, averting his eyes.

"So" she cleared her throat. "I'm sure a road trip to Redmond will be fun too, and besides, I'm very intrigued about all this story of your uncle. I'm dying to figure out how it ends."

Stefan remained silent, as he if was really thinking of going on his own. Caroline clenched her jaw.

"Or you have a new best friend that will go with you?" she said, folding her arms. He opened his mouth to reply. "Or, I don't know, an old flame" she muttered under her breath.  
"What?" he asked with a slight frown.  
"Well, didn't you go to New York to see some old friends and Sophie?" Caroline looked around, trying to hide her bitterness.  
"I haven't seen Sophie in months."  
"Oh, so you're implying you've seen her after our trip to New York?" she narrowed her eyes at him. Stefan blinked several times and licked his lower lip before replying.  
"I'm going to make that breakfast" he said before disappearing behind the door. "Feel free to use the bathroom."  
"I'm going to use your toothbrush!" she yelled.  
"Fine" he said with a tone that implies exhaustion and not desire to keep fighting.

Caroline pursed her lips and closed her fists. He was behaving like a person that does not care at all, and she knew that he was trying to keep some distance between the two, to push her away a little. She needed a plan B.

* * *

"So, let me see if I got it right. You want me to go with you to a double date?"

Caroline nodded to Stefan, who closed his locker.

She had thought about that plan B of hers 2 hours later of leaving his house the previous day. She knew it was going to be a mess, and that it made no sense at all, but it had been the only thing that she could think of. And, of course, it involved more people. Because what was a plan B without dragging others to her own messed up life?

 _"Wait, wait, what?" Alex asked when she stopped the car in front of the principal building of Mystic Falls High School.  
_ _"Please, please" she said for the third time. "The only thing you have to do is convince Anna."  
_ _"You do realize that you're asking me to ask my girlfriend to pretend she had a thing for you, right?" Alex looked at her friend as if she was crazy. Maybe she really was.  
_ _"No, no, no._ _You got it wrong. Here's the situation: Anna did have a thing for me in the past, or that's what you think because, you're not with her yet. You like Anna, but she doesn't know, and you're scared of being with her or telling her because you think that she still has feelings for me even if she never had. So you want to ask her out, but you feel so insecure about it. And I have to push you to do it, and in order to prove that she doesn't feel anything for me, you have this idea of a double date to see if she behaves weird when seeing me dating another person. So I agree, just so you can realize it's not what you think and that way you'll give yourself a chance. And, of course, Anna will know about the plan, because otherwise she'll think I'm a weirdo."  
_ _"Maybe because you are?"_ _Alex asked._

 _"Come on, Alex, I need some help here" Caroline got out of the car and Alex followed her. "Besides, Anna and I went to the same school, remember that I was friends with her before you were? Remember that I was the one who introduced you to your future girlfriend?"  
"I'm just saying that this is insane" Alex said, rising her hands. "So, you finally realize you have feelings for Stefan and you elaborate this twisted plan and drag us with you?"  
"Uh-huh."_

 _Caroline opened the door of the building for Alex._

 _"I'm sure Anna will help, but…" Alex sighed. "I don't know if Stefan will buy it, Care" she let out a laugh. "Honestly, it's the worst plan you've ever made."_

She was still looking at him, waiting for an answer. He turned to her.

"It's twisted" Stefan said. "This girl had a thing for you?"  
"No, that's what Alex says and I want to prove her wrong so she dates Anna once and for all. Anna and I went to the same school, and Alex is scared of asking her out because she thinks she's in love with me."

Stefan looked at her as if she was crazy.

"I know it sounds crazy" she said.  
"You think?" he buried his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he walked towards his next class.  
"Please, please, we just have to pretend we're dating. It's not such a big deal" she rolled her eyes with a smile on her face and Stefan stopped and looked at her, suspicious. Caroline swallowed and tried to give her best performance. "Please?" she grabbed Stefan's arm and looked at him with a puppy face. Stefan looked around, he seemed nervous.  
"I don't know, Caroline…"  
"Are you really not going to help me with this? I'm trying to make Alex feel better and show her that she can date Anna."  
"Isn't there any other way to help her? You know I think Alex's great, but-"  
"You know what? Never mind" she started walking and looked at him over her shoulder. "I'll find another guy who's willing to help me, it's not like I'm not going to find one."

She gritted her teeth. She was running out of patience and she was afraid that she would slap Stefan once and for all to make him react. She was starting to think that he had been telling the truth when he said that he had gotten confused and that the kiss had been a mistake. Stefan followed her with his eyes and sighed.

"Wait."

Caroline stopped and smiled. The whole situation was funny. Caroline had asked Stefan to pretend to be her boyfriend the first time she saw him. Now, it was coming full circle. Here we go, plan B.

* * *

Caroline had prepared the living room, bought a lot of food, and picked up some movies for the double date night. Alex and Anna were sitting on the couch, probably going over the plan again so that neither of them would make a mistake. Caroline was very grateful to Anna for having agreed to help.

She was wearing a summery short tight blue dress, and she was feeling a little guilty because of that. She knew that Stefan was more than sex attraction. He cared about more things apart from that, she had learned that over the months that they had been knowing each other. They had a deeper connection that went beyond that, but she had to start with something, and seducing him was, after all, part of the plan as well.

Besides, it seemed to be working, since she had caught him staring at her legs more than once already. She smiled when she heard him sigh for the fourth time.

"What?" she asked him as she was placing the snacks and food on trays.  
"Nothing" he said quickly, averting his eyes from her legs and loosening the neck of his shirt again. She had to purse her lips to restrain a smile. "Caroline, how many kinds of empanada have you brought?"  
"I just wanted to have variety!" she defended herself. "I don't know what Anna likes" she lied.  
"Mmm."

He shook his head and approached her.

"Let me help you. Otherwise we won't watch that movie until tomorrow" he said, grabbing food. "You know, I could have cooked."

Caroline stared at him. He looked so cute and handsome and attractive. It was torture not being able to touch him or simply close the gap between them and kiss him. If only she would have realized sooner.

"So, Marien is spending the night somewhere else?"  
"Yeah, girls' night. She's hanging out with some colleagues from work."

Stefan nodded, focused on the organization of the food. Caroline looked up and saw Anna walking towards them.

"Hey guys, need some help?"  
"We're good" Caroline said. "But thanks! You can grab the popcorn if you want, though" Caroline gave her a significant look and Anna nodded.  
"So, how did you two meet? I had no idea you have a boyfriend, Caroline."  
"Um, you know, the typical thing. High school, Stefan flirted with me, he asked me out… Right, Stefan?"  
"Yup" he did not look up from the food. Caroline glared at him and then she shrugged at Anna, feeling a little down. Anna seemed to think for a second and then winked at Caroline, having an idea.  
"You look hot tonight, Caroline."

Stefan looked up immediately, forgetting about the food.

"Well, uh, thanks" Caroline said.

Anna smiled at her and Stefan wrapped his arms around Caroline's waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Right? That's what I told her as soon as I saw her" he said. "You know, me, her boyfriend."

Caroline could not help but bit the inside of her cheek, feeling triumphant. Anna offered them a friendly smile and left the kitchen with the bowls of popcorn as Caroline and Stefan followed her with their eyes. He remained still a little longer, inhaling Caroline's scent and the smell of her shampoo. She cleared her throat and he pulled away quickly, releasing her.

"I'm starting to think that she likes you" he said.  
"Anna? Nah, she's just that way" Caroline said, grabbing a tray.

Everyone was sitting on the couch, ready to play and start the movie, when Caroline seemed to remember something that she had forgotten in the kitchen. She stood up, overwhelmed.

"I have to-"  
"Caroline" Stefan took her hand and pulled her until she sat on his lap. Anna and Alex exchanged an amused look. "Forget about it. Let's start the movie, please, before I lose my mind."

Caroline giggled as Stefan spread his legs so she would sit between them. He wrapped her waist with his arms and, taking her hands, he interlaced their fingers, distracted. Caroline's back was resting against his chest, and she was trying very hard not to smile, pleased.

She looked at Alex from the corner of the eye. Her friend raised her eyebrows at her with a smirk. Caroline spent the two hours of movie with her body against his, and she did not know if he had taken the role very seriously or if he just had forgotten about the situation and had let himself go, since in more than one occasion, he had stroked her fingers with his or he had wrapped one of her curls around his finger, watching the movie very distracted.

There were 30 minutes of movie left when she felt his cheek against her temple and his sleepy and quiet breath.

"I can't believe he's fallen sleep" Alex said in a whisper. "Stop smiling, Care, you're being very obvious."  
"Sorry" she said, blushing.  
"He's so whipped" Anna said, laughing silently. "He hasn't released your hand in 2 hours, I'm impressed."

He moved a little in his sleep but did not open his eyes. On the contrary, he murmured something incomprehensible and pulled her to him unconsciously. Alex rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Time to wake him up" Anna suggested.

Caroline nudged him until he opened his eyes wide and ran a hand over his face.

"Oh, did the movie end?" he asked, disoriented.  
"We're leaving guys, thanks for the night" Alex said, standing up.

Caroline and Stefan said goodbye to the girls, standing on the porch. Stefan's eyes landed on Caroline's figure once again, not being able to resist.

"I'll help you with the dishes."  
"Of course you will" she said.

He rolled his eyes with a little smile and followed her inside. They started doing the dishes in silence. He put the plates under the water of the faucet and then handed them to her so she would dry them with a cloth. He seemed absorbed in his thoughts and she just wanted to talk to him about anything. She giggled, thinking about a plan C.

"What?" he asked, looking at her.  
"Uh, I drank a little bit" she gestured with her fingers.  
"When?" he frowned.  
"When you were sleeping on my couch?"  
"Caroline, we know that you can't handle alcohol very well" he reminded her.  
"Mmm."

She shrugged with a silly smile on her lips and he sighed. She threw the cloth to his face and laughed with a cheery tone. Stefan left the cloth on the counter, shaking his head.

"This can't end good" he murmured.  
"Stefan, you've been broody the whole night" she said, approaching him slowly. He stared at her with a watchful look. "What's going on?"  
"Nothing" he averted his eyes. Caroline swallowed, knowing that she was crazy, and put her arms around his neck.  
"You call tell anything to your fake girlfriend, you know?" she giggled again and Stefan looked down at her lips.  
"I, uh… I have to go, Caroline, it's late" he said with a gulp.

She pulled away, disappointment filling her face.

"You can stay here, if you want" she said. "We have another bedroom, and I don't bite."  
"I actually was thinking of calling Marien, see if she can come back sooner, maybe" he told her. She looked into his eyes with confusion. "I'd stay but I don't want to spend another night out considering that we're going to Redmond this weekend."

Caroline nodded slowly, folding her arms.

"Okay" she said, avoiding his eyes.  
"You need help to go upstairs?"  
"No, I'm fine" she walked towards the door. "Just make sure to close the door when you leave."

She disappeared behind the door of the kitchen and Stefan tried not to think about how much he missed the brush of her warm skin against his.

* * *

 _"Does Elena know you're here?" Enzo asked, staring at the city from the balcony of his flat.  
"What?"_

 _Enzo turned to Damon, who was pouring himself a glass of bourbon._

 _"Does she know why you wanted to come back to New York?" he asked. Damon narrowed his eyes at him.  
_ _"Is there any reason I don't know myself, Lorenzo?"_

 _Enzo rolled his eyes and sat on the couch._

 _"Do you really think I don't know you enough to realize that something is going on in that head of yours?"_

 _Damon sat in front of him, glaring at him._

 _"I need to know something."_

 _Enzo looked at him with a questioning look._

 _"Why did you write it? The book."  
_ _"Bonnie asked me to" Enzo shrugged.  
_ _"Why would she do that?" Damon murmured to himself._ _"Are you trying to drive me crazy from up there, Bon, Bon?" he looked at the ceiling and Enzo shook his head.  
_ _"Damon, do you really think all of this is a damn coincidence? I thought you were more intelligent."_

 _Damon looked back at Enzo._

 _"Bonnie left me some instructions before dying, the night I went to Mystic Falls to see her" he explained. Damon frowned. "But I don't know the whole story."  
_ _"What are you talking about?"  
_ _"Damon" Enzo sighed._ _"You were so, so blind, so in denial, so… You didn't listen to her. You should have listened to her."_

 _Enzo rose to his feet to pour himself a glass of bourbon._

 _"She wrote 'in case of doubt, ask Marien' in the last note she left to me. Maybe you should ask her, talk to her."  
_ _"Talk to her about what?"_

 _Enzo looked intently at him and Damon felt a shiver running through his spine._

Damon was staring at his lap, mind blank, distracted. He did not know why it had taken him so long to figure out, to know that Caroline was living with Marien. He had not told Elena, he did not know what to say anyway.

But maybe he should have known, because as Enzo said, he used to be more intelligent than that.

 _"So you had Caroline's engagement ring all the time" Damon said, walking around the living room.  
_ _"Mom gave it to me before, you know" Marien followed him with his eyes.  
_ _"And you decided to give it to this new Caroline who happens to be your niece."  
_ _"Kind of."_

 _Damon ran a hand over his face, staring at the pictures of the living room where Caroline and Marien were posing together for the last 17 years._

 _"I can't believe it" Damon whispered. He took one of the pictures. "She's just like her."  
_ _"And you haven't figured out why yet, really?"_

 _Damon looked at Marien from the corner of his eye, leaving the picture back on its place._

 _"Why are you here, Damon?" she asked.  
_ _"I was expecting you'd tell me that."_

 _Marien nodded._

 _"I need to know if…" he sighed. "If I have been stupid and blind all this time."  
_ _"Remember those mysterious trips Bonnie used to take?" Marien said in a whisper. "Maybe you don't, because let's be honest, you weren't in your right mind or lucid during those years, Damon. I bet you've forgotten most of it."  
_ _"Marien" he gritted his teeth.  
_ _"Why do you think Bonnie used to be so immersed in those books, Damon? Why do you think she was so obsessed with her research? Why do you think I had to give up my magic when I was 20?"_

 _Damon gave her a confused look._

 _"A lot of people gave up a lot of things, and a lot of people had to help Bonnie find a lot of things that could be useful. She was never sure, and still she kept trying, and trying."  
_ _"Bonnie never wanted to tell me why your magic had disappeared" he mumbled.  
_ _"Because she didn't want to talk to you about that again, Damon. Your reactions weren't the best."_

 _Damon looked away and Marien sighed._

 _"I can't figure everything out for you. You need to come to terms with it, and… remember."_

 _He looked up at her._

 _"The night she died, Damon. You and I were there, next to her. Remember what she told you?"_

Damon woke up from his reverie when he heard someone descending the steps. He gave a long sip to his bottle of bourbon and looked at the jewelry box from the corner of his eye, placed on the little table next to his armchair. It was open, and he could see Stefan and Caroline's daylight rings perfectly well. He had not opened that box in months.

"Leaving?" he asked suddenly, sensing Stefan's presence behind him.  
"Yeah" Stefan adjusted the backpack in his shoulder.  
"Does her aunt know she's going with you?" he asked, tapping the glass with his fingers.  
"I think so."

 _Of course she does. She knew, knows everything._

Damon nodded and stood up.

"And where are you going?" he asked, looking at Stefan.  
"Redmond" Stefan said with a challenging look. Damon widened his eyes for a second and then lowered his gaze.  
"Huh."  
"You know it? Been there before?" Stefan asked straightforward, trying to see if his dad would tell him anything about his uncle once and for all.

 _Damon opened his mouth with his eyes fixed on the road. They were just out of the state of Nevada, entering Oregon._

 _"Well, we know how Stefan is" Damon said. "Once he loses his mind, he starts breaking necks and-"  
_ _"He wouldn't do that" Caroline said, looking away.  
_ _"I don't want to disappoint you, but in his nearly 200 years, he has done it more than once."  
_ _"Stefan has more self-control than you think and…"_

 _Caroline stopped talking when her phone buzzed in her bag. She pulled it out quickly and slid her thumb over the screen._

 _"So? Do we have news from our Hermione Granger?" Damon asked.  
_ _"Redmond" Caroline said.  
_ _"My name is Damon."  
_ _"No, Damon, Redmond, that's where they are" she said, showing him the directions and the map of the screen.  
_ _"Redmond it is."_

Damon pursed his lips to restrain a smile.

"Mmm, I don't know, maybe" Damon looked at Stefan, the memory filling his mind. He was starting to understand, deep down.  
"Well, I'll be back soon."  
"Take care" Damon said. "Oh, wait" he took Stefan's daylight ring and walked towards him. "Here" he handed it to him and Stefan stared at the object with a slight frown.  
"And this is…?"  
"I want you to have it" Damon said. "It's an old relic of the family."

Stefan nodded and put it inside the pocket of his jeans before turning around and leaving. Damon stood there with a lump in his throat. He looked over his shoulder at the jewelry box, remembering Bonnie's last words.

 _He sat on the bed and held her hand tightly. Marien was leaning against the wall with tears in her eyes._

 _"Damon" Bonnie smiled at him with those wrinkles of her face. "You're here."  
_ _"Of course I'm here."_

 _Bonnie sighed with heavy breath and Damon looked at her with concern. He knew that it was time. She had been trying to stretch it on, but anyone could tell by her exhausted look that she could not hold on anymore._

 _"Damon."  
_ _"Yeah, I'm here, Bon Bon."_

 _She smiled with teary eyes._

 _"I tried, I had to try" she whispered. Damon frowned. "Maybe there's a way, after all, for them."_

 _Damon averted his eyes._

 _"Bonster, it's not the time to talk about that, don't you think?"  
_ _"Damon" she squeezed his hand with an unnatural strength. "Listen, you have to promise me."  
_ _"Of course, I will promise you anything you want."_

 _Bonnie looked at him for a few seconds, her breath was becoming more and more heavy. She opened her mouth._

 _"The rings" she said in a whisper. "Promise me you won't forget about the rings."_

 _He opened his mouth to say something stupid, to tell her a joke in order to make her forget about those things and just calm her down in her last moments. But she closed her eyes slowly, and he never heard her voice again._

* * *

An overwhelming silence was filling the car. Caroline was looking through the window, and Stefan used to look at her from the corner of his eye from time to time, trying to figure out what was going on in her mind.

She sighed before giving another sip to her milkshake and Stefan opened his mouth to ask her anything, but his eyes caught the time that the watch marked and, realizing that he had been driving for almost 15 hours straight, he thought to stop and fill the car up with gas.

He stopped at a gas station and looked at Caroline.

"Hey."  
"Huh?" she looked at him.  
"Would you like something from the shop?"  
"Just bring all the unhealthy snacks that you find" she told him with a strange smile.

Stefan gave her a suspicious look before nodding and getting out of the car. Caroline watched him enter the quick stop as her mind started to think fast.

"Okay, I need a plan. Think, Caroline, dammit, think."

Stefan was already paying and she looked around. She could only think of doing one thing. She poured all the content of the milkshake on her shirt and lap, staining her clothes.

"Okay, so I have Oreo, chocolates, Pringles, gu-" Stefan smelled something and looked at Caroline.  
"Clumsy" she said.  
"What-"  
"I was trying to find a radio station and I made a bad a move and threw the milkshake all over my clothes" she winced.  
"Well, I… Do you want to-"  
"Can we look for a motel? You've been driving and driving, it's almost night and I'd really like to take a shower."

Stefan tilted his head to one side, squeezing his shoulder.

"Yeah, actually I could use some hours of sleep and rest and definitely a comfortable bed."  
"Great!" she said with too much excitement, clapping her hands. She cleared her throat when Stefan gave her another suspicious look. "Well, let's go. Or I'll smell like a product of Starbucks for hours."

Stefan chuckled, starting the engine of the car, and Caroline could not help but smile. She thought that he had forgotten how to laugh.

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at their motel room –Caroline had managed to ask for a room with only a full-sized bed when Stefan went to the bathroom-. Stefan looked around, wondering how they were going to sleep.

"No couch?" he asked.  
"I can go check if they have any other room with-"  
"No, it's okay" he said, dropping his backpack on the floor. "We can share, if that's okay."  
"Yeah, sure."

He nodded and flopped on one side of the bed, exhausted. Caroline went to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She could not believe what she was about to do, what she had already one. Had she really stained herself just to have some time with Stefan? Had she really packed a revealing nightgown just to make him react?

She opened the door of the bathroom after a long shower and 30 more minutes of indecision due to her insecurities. Stefan, who was watching the TV with the remote control in his hand, averted his eyes from the device to look at her. A lump was formed in his throat and the remote control fell from his hand, dropping on his chest.

Caroline 1 – Stefan 0

He made a wince, stroking his chest, cleared his throat quickly and straightened a little. Caroline made a great effort not to smile, proud of herself, as she lay next to him. She let out a long sigh, watching the screen of the TV. Stefan's eyes landed on her legs and he pursed his lips, forcing himself to look at the TV.

He rubbed his shoulder, his whole body hurt. Caroline looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"You okay?"  
"Yeah, just… When you spend more than 10 hours sitting on a car, driving, it can end very bad" he let out a throaty laugh.  
"Do you… Well…" Caroline leaned on her side and Stefan, holding his breath at feeling her so close, watched her carefully, on guard. "I could give you a massage?"

Stefan's jaw dropped and he started stammering, not saying anything at all. Caroline raised her eyebrows, amused by his cute nervousness.

"Come on" she said, leading her hands to his shirt and starting to pull it up. Stefan gulped and let her, not knowing what else he could do. "Lie facing down."  
"Caroline, hey, it's really not necessary, I'm fine, actually. I'm-"  
"Face down, Stefan."

She shoved his shoulder to push him and he winced.

"Jesus, where's all that strength coming from?" he finally faced down, tense. She smiled and straddled him. He snorted against the pillow. "Caroline, what the hell are you doing? I'm not a horse."  
"Will you shut up, Stefan Salvatore, for once?"

He sighed and closed his eyes, relaxing his shoulders and his back. Caroline watched his muscles and bit her lower lip. _God, was he even real?_

She stretched her arm to grab the cream on the bedside table and opened it. Stefan opened his eyes wide.

"You're not going to use that cream for my back, right? It smells like cherries."  
"Stefan" Caroline leaned over him to bring her mouth closer to his ear. "Quiet."

He gasped and gulped. Caroline straightened up and started to massage his back and shoulders. He let out a long, relieved sigh, closing his eyes. Her hands felt like heaven against his skin. He would have asked her if she was a professional massage therapist if he had not been so relaxed and at ease.

Caroline had never shared such an intimate moment with anyone, not even with his previous boyfriends, although she had to admit that her past relationships had been the most innocent ones in the world. She had never felt 100% herself with any of them, she had never shared moments of mutual understanding or silent communication. With Stefan, however, everything was different.

So different that he had managed to break down all her insecurities. She wanted him in every way, and she had to bite her lip when she thought how much she just wanted to playfully bite his back, although she could not restrain a giggle.

"What?" he said in a whisper, his voice calm.  
"Nothing."  
"God" he whispered when Caroline massaged a weak spot, and she was turned on immediately. Would she be very direct and savage if she just jumped on him and kissed his mouth?

She shook her head, trying to make those thoughts disappear. She watched his face. He seemed to be in a trance. And Caroline, being Caroline, could not help but start tickling his sides.

"Caroline" he complained against the pillow, trying to grab her wrists, still faced down.  
"What? Are you ticklish?"

He turned around God knows how and tried to grab her wrists as she continued tickling him. Stefan was pursing his lips very hard not to laugh, and in a sudden moment, he managed to grab her hands. He tangled one of her legs with one of his and rolled them over fast, straddling her now, still with his fingers around her wrists.

The shift was immediate. Her heart started to race and his stare went down to her mouth. She was pretty sure that he was leaning towards her slowly, and her chest was going up and down as her breath became heavy due to the sexual tension, palpable in the whole room.

She got startled when his phone started to ring loudly with one of those weirdo rock/pop songs of Stefan's, buzzing on the bedside table. She tried not to curse in front of him, to hide her disappointment for the interruption, and decided to break the silence.

"Can I get my hands back?" she asked with a normal laugh.

Stefan blinked several times, as if he had just heard the phone, and backed off quickly. Caroline sat up on the bed and Stefan took his phone to answer the call.

"Yes?" he said with throaty voice. "Oh, dad, hey."

He offered Caroline a little smile and pointed at the door. She nodded and followed him with her eyes as he went out of the room. Caroline touched the pulse of her wrist, wondering if it was normal that it was so high. She had never felt like that. She rubbed her neck, still feeling Stefan's hips against hers.

When Stefan returned 15 minutes later, Caroline was lying with her back to him, pretending to be asleep. He swallowed hard and rubbed his neck, watching her. Her hair, her soft skin, the curve of her waist, her appealing legs.

 _Stop_.

He shook his head and switched off the lights to lay next to her. She looked down, sensing his weight on the mattress and the warm sensation of his body close to hers. One second later, he was covering her with the sheets and she could not help but smile a little. Always so protective.

He dropped the head on his pillow and stared at the ceiling. It had been 20 minutes and he was still tense because of what had happened. His skin and body were yearning for just one thing: Caroline.

His eyes landed on her again. His stare fixed on her hair, his fingers itching because he wanted to touch it, get lost in it. As if she felt his eyes on her, she turned around and moved closer to him until she rested her head on his shoulder, still pretending to be sleeping.

He gulped and lifted his hand to stroke her cheek.

"I'm so screwed."

She tried really hard not to smile.

* * *

They spent the second night of the trip in another motel, lying on bed, drinking beer and talking about everything and nothing; what they wanted to do after school, or study in college, or where they would like to travel.

"We could go to Europe" he said with low voice, staring into her eyes. "See the world. You and me."

Caroline was staring back at him, and she wanted to close that gap between them more than anything in the world. Her heart was racing after hearing his words, and she could not help but look tenderly at him and offer him a soft, shy smile.

"Really?"  
"Yeah, I mean… If you want to."  
"I'd never thought about leaving Mystic Falls, actually" she said thoughtfully, and then she shrugged. "But, well, I wouldn't say no if you… If you come with me."

They exchanged a look and Stefan bit the inside of his cheek, nodding.

"We could go to Paris!" she exclaimed suddenly, startling him. "See the Eiffel Tower, and the Seine, go for a walk in the Champs Elysées, visit the Louvre, and-"  
"Take you to dance somewhere" he said. She looked at him. "Since you love those dances so much" he rolled his eyes and she shoved his shoulder, laughing. "Oh, wait, there's something I wanted to give you."

He pulled himself to the edge of the bed to grab something of his backpack. It was a journal.

"I thought you were the writer?" she said as he handed it to her. He shook his head, smiling.  
"You don't have to write anything, Caroline, just read it. It's… What I talked you about. It's what I wrote about you."

She looked up from the cover of the journal to stare at him. He rubbed his neck and licked his lower lip, a little nervous.

She was still reading the thing the next day as he drove the car, very close to Redmond now. She turned another page and he looked at her from the corner of his eye, waiting for some reaction or comment.

"Do you really think and believe these things?" she asked minutes later, her eyes fixed on the pages. He looked at her with a frown.  
"Which part?"  
"Everything."

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and he smiled softly with his eyes on the road ahead.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Caroline restrained a shrug. Stefan let out a sigh.

"Caroline, I wouldn't write it if I didn't believe it" he started. "I think you're one of the most beautiful people living on this planet. And I don't mean only physically, because, well, uh, everyone can see you're pretty, but…"

Stefan started talking and talking, but Caroline's mind broke away from his words for a few seconds. She had had a hard time believing his written words because she was not used to be seen that way. She remembered how those previous boyfriends had told her that she was hot and attractive, but also that that was not enough if she was never ready to give mature and important steps. She used to break up with them at the end, and once she did so, they told her that she was crazy and useless.

Her eyes filled with tears and a lump was formed in her throat. Stefan, however, had been the opposite of everything that she had known before. He had always been there for her, told her that she could go through everything, that she was strong enough. He had become her best friend and in the process, she had fallen in love with him, even if she had not realized at first.

She looked at his hands gripping the steering wheel, those hands that always made her feel safe.

"… You're perfect, what can I say."

She blinked several times, catching the last words of his long monologue, and looked at him.

"Although you can drive me crazy sometimes, but that's part of your charm" he smiled softly and Caroline's heart started racing.  
"Stefan, I have to tell you som-"  
"Hey, look!" he pointed at the GPS. They were almost at the place of the address. "We're almost there."

Caroline looked ahead. There was a narrow path surrounded by high trees at its sides. The ground was covered with mud though, since it had rained the previous night, so it was very difficult to drive the car through there.

"I think we should leave the car here and walk from now on" he suggested. She nodded and got out of the car, her shoes instantly covered in mud.  
"Great."

Caroline walked among the trees, following the directions of the map. Stefan followed her very close, pursing his lips. It was very funny to see Caroline outside her comfort zone. She was very clumsy walking over mud and she used to stumble over external roots of the trees.

She slipped because of a leaf and Stefan grabbed her waist from behind automatically so she would not fall. Caroline snorted.

"You okay?" he asked with an amused smile. Caroline looked over her shoulder and glared at him.  
"I'm fine" she said.  
"Didn't seem so."

She gave him a threatening look and he raised his hands in surrender.

"I hate you" she muttered, resuming the walk.  
"Why?" he asked, smiling.  
"Because you're good at everything, and it's annoying" she said, turning to him. "I mean, why haven't you slipped yet? The ground is slippery and slushy! What's your problem?"

He chuckled, looking at her, and she pushed him in the shoulder.

"You're a jerk" she glared at him.  
"Huh, you sound angry."  
"I'm not angry, I'm just annoyed because you…" she looked around and he raised his eyebrows. "Ugh."

He laughed and ran a hand over his face, shaking his head.

"And now you're laughing at me" Caroline said.  
"No, no, I'm not laughing at you. None of this is funny, trust me."  
"Hah-hah."

Stefan made a great effort to put a straight face and she sighed, turning around to continue walking.

"Let's go, before I punch you in that perfect face of yours."

She widened her eyes as soon as she finished her sentence and then she pursed her lips, expecting him not to have heard her.

"Perfect face?" he asked, speeding up to walk beside her. "Does that mean you consider me good-looking, Caroline Forbes?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her and nudged her arm, which made her roll her eyes.  
"Shut up" she hit his arm and he chuckled.  
"Oh, finally."

Caroline followed the direction of his eyes and saw a single house in front of them, a few inches away. She stood still, a chilling feeling going through her body.

 _The front door suddenly opened and Damon pulled the sleeve of her jacket to make her bent behind some bushes._

 _Stefan stepped into the porch with a beer in hand and a journal in the other. Caroline froze, watching how he leaned against the railing. Damon looked at her from the corner of the eye and saw her petrified and broken face, the spark in her eyes, and he could even hear the speed at which her heart was beating. And for once in his life, he understood what she had to be feeling. Because he would feel the same thing if he saw Elena after a long time._

 _Caroline swallowed hard with watery eyes. She did not want to cry, but the emotions were shaking her in a way that hurt. She closed her eyes for a brief second and then opened them. She did not want to miss a thing, she did not want to lose him again._

 _"It's him" she said in a whisper._

Caroline swallowed, having a weird feeling, and looked at Stefan. He seemed to be frozen, staring at the house.

"Stefan?" she asked in a whisper. He blinked several times before looking at her. "You okay?"

 _She stepped forward and Stefan looked up from the journal towards he had heard the footstep. And then he saw her. It was her, his Caroline, and she looked real, but he did not know if his mind was laughing at him._

 _"Stefan" she said in a whisper._

 _Stefan took a step toward the three steps of the porch, but he stopped when he heard footsteps approaching behind him. He was completely frozen and glanced at Damon, shaking his head. Caroline saw it too._

 _"No" she mumbled. "No, no…"_

"Yeah, just…" he swallowed and looked at the house. "It's kind of creepy."  
"Don't tell me you're scared" she said with a smirk. He rolled his eyes and she gave a step forward. He took her hand and she looked at him with a frown.  
"Wait, I don't know if we should-"  
"Stefan, you haven't driven 3000 miles for nothing. We're here, come on" she squeezed his hand. "Come on."

He nodded and followed her towards the house. Once on the porch, he tried to open the door, but it was closed. Caroline showed him a key.

"It was under the doormat" she explained.  
"How many houses have you broken into, Caroline?"  
"Only a few" she joked, opening the door. Stefan narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm just kidding."

They stepped into the hall and looked around. It did not seem an abandoned house at all once you were inside. The furniture, walls and floor were completely clean. The smell was not the one of a closed space either.

Stefan straightened a little and took a deep breath. He saw a pen on the table next to the couch.

 _Stefan stopped after writing the letter "n". And then… Then what? He jumped when, without realizing it, made a hole on the paper with the tip of the pen._

 _"Then…" he mumbled. "Damn it. What happened next?" Stefan ran his hand over his face, starting to get nervous. He did not remember. Whatever happened, he could not remember.  
_ _"Losing your memory?" Valerie asked, leaning on the back of the couch behind him to read what he was writing. Stefan closed the diary shut and clenched his jaw. "Oh, you're writing about her. How cute."  
_ _"Leave me alone" Stefan hissed.  
_ _"It's a good idea, actually, considering that soon, you-"_

 _Valerie hit the wall when Stefan pushed her against it, with his hand wrapped around her neck, squeezing. Valerie laughed._

 _"Tempt me, Stefan. Tempt me and I swear you'll not forget her little by little. With a few words I can make you forget her right now, forever."_

 _Stefan squeezed her neck even more for a moment, tempted by the idea of killing the person who was making him forget the best thing that had ever happened to him._

"Stefan, are you okay? You're pale" she cupped his cheek with her hand and he smiled awkwardly.  
"I'm fine" he took her hand in his to pull it away gently, stroking her knuckles. "Just tired, it's been a long and exhausting trip."  
"You're talking about my twenty stops to go to the bathroom, right? I'm sorry, I know I was annoying, I shouldn't-"  
"Caroline" he chuckled. "It has nothing to do with that."  
"Let's do this" she said, giving little jumps in front of him. She was being cute and he smiled. "I'm pretty sure there are bedrooms upstairs. Let's spend the night here? We can rest and there's pizza in the car for dinner. And we can check the house, you know? See if there's anything about your uncle here" she looked around.  
"That sounds pretty good to me, actually" he said. "We can even check tomorrow, we have plenty of time."

She nodded.

"I'll go get our things" he headed to the door. "And yes, also your hair dryer."  
"Wait, I can go with you" she followed him but he placed a hand against her stomach. It was such an intimate gesture but such a normal one at the same time that she did not even flinch.  
"Let me do it. If you come with me, it might take us years to come back again."

She narrowed her eyes at him and he restrained a laugh. She was so childish sometimes.

"Go take a shower meanwhile, get comfortable."  
"Fiiiine" she sighed and he pinched her chin tenderly before walking out the door.

* * *

 _I'm oxygen and he's dying to breathe.  
_ Tahereh Mafi

She descended the last steps barefooted 40 minutes later, with a towel around her body, her hair wet as she brushed it. She had thought that Stefan would be in the other bathroom, taking a shower himself, so she had wanted to take advantage of the emptiness of the first floor to go to the kitchen and drink some water. But he had already finished his shower –he was a man, it was obvious-, and he was standing on the porch, leaning against the pole and drinking a beer. The sun was setting behind him and she felt herself being pulled to him.

"Stefan" she said with soft voice. He gave a slight jump and looked at her over his shoulder.  
"He-" his words disappeared when he saw her wearing nothing but a towel. He looked ahead quickly and brought the bottle of beer to his mouth to take sip.  
"Are you okay?" she said, leaning her back against the opposite pole.

He remained silent and she let out a long sigh, letting the few rays of sun left stroke her face.

"You can tell me" she continued.  
"It's just…" he looked around. "This place. I don't know, it's a weird feeling, as if something bad and terrible happened here."

She tilted her head, looking at him, and he shrugged.

"Well, we can turn bad and terrible to something good and beautiful" she said with a beautiful smile.  
"You look beautiful" he suddenly said, looking down with the bottle of beer hanging from his hand.

Her heart jumped and she stared intently at him. He placed the empty bottle on the banister and looked at her. They exchanged a long look before Stefan looked at her from head to toe with an illegible look. Caroline's pulse raced, he took a step towards her and she, without averting her gaze from his, raised a hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. But Stefan's hand took hers to stop her so that he could do it himself.

He stroked her hair and she could not help but give a step forward. His hand grabbed her chin gently and he tilted her head slowly to one side so that the sun was reflected in her face, brushing his finger against her skin with a smooth movement.

At seeing her questioning look, he could not help but smile a little, lowering his gaze to her lips.

"I told you I like any kind of art."

Caroline did not know what to say, and her thoughts became even more stagnant when he brushed her lower lip with his thumb slowly. There was a fire growing inside, about to start burning, and she was afraid that it might probably end up exploding. Stefan's gaze was dark, thirsty and longing, yearning for her.

The fire fell to her lower belly, under her navel, until it reached the space between her legs. He cupped her neck with his other hand as he kept stroking her lip with his finger slowly. He touched her skin with his fingertips for a few seconds and then dropped his hand to her collar bone.

He gulped and looked up at her again, meeting her gaze. He licked his lower lip in anticipation and placed his hand against the small of her back, pulling her suddenly to him until her hips hit his. He had to restrain a moan when he felt nothing except for the towel and his jeans separating his body from hers.

The intensity of his look was making her legs shake. He started to bring his face closer to hers, looking at her lips again. He closed his eyes when the tip of his nose brushed hers.

"Stefan" she said in a whisper.

He stood still, breathing her in.

"I'm sorry" he said in a whisper, brushing her cheek with the tip of his nose. "I know… I know I shouldn't-"

He sighed, shut his eyes tightly with his jaw clenched, and then pulled away. She opened her eyes, feeling suddenly empty, her skin asking for him to come back. He looked down and she realized he was about to turn and walk inside, so she did what she should have done months ago.

She took his hand, stopping him, and he looked at her with confusion and a frown on his forehead. She pulled him to her until he was standing in the same position than before. She stood on her toes and stole a soft kiss from his lips, wrapping his neck with her arms. He seemed frozen, letting her move her lips against his softly, gently. When she pulled away a little, just enough to look up at him and see his reaction, he opened his eyes and looked back at her, shocked and amazed by her.

"I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified" she said in a whisper, her mouth very close to his.  
"What?" he asked with tiny voice, staring at her like an idiot.

She smiled nervously, feeling very stupid.

"You were right all along" she said, playing with one of the buttons of his shirt. "And I think I knew too. I don't know when it became more than friendship but it did. And it scared me, so I pushed it away" she winced. "And I tried, but I just can't stay way from you anymore."

She did not know why, but she felt like crying suddenly, for having been so stupid and so blind, and because after saying those words aloud, she felt very small and weak, completely exposed. Stefan was staring at her in such a way that she was scared of him losing his ability to speak or react.

"But I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore after what I did and how stupidly I behav-"

Stefan leaned down and kissed her again, his mouth lingering on hers, his teeth grazing her lower lip. He pulled away just a little, his lips still brushing hers.

"How can you think I'm anything but hopelessly in love with you?" he said in a whisper. Caroline's heart was beating so fast that she thought that it would explode. "I love you. I'm completely and utterly in love with you."

His mouth came down on hers again, losing all the control that he had been keeping for the past weeks. She put her arms around his neck again, her lips forming a little smile as he kissed her, and he pulled her against him, with his hands pressing against her back. He was kissing her fiercely, clinging to her more tightly, burying his hands in her hair.

She cupped his neck with her hands and pulled him to her even more, their mouths crashing, their teeth biting each other's lips with despair and yearning. She started to walk backwards and he followed suit, both of them walking inside, one of his hands sliding to her waist with his thumb stroking her lower belly over the towel. The fire was about to explode.

Her back hit the wall next to the stairs and he bit her lower lip fiercely, wandering his hands all over her body, and he immediately developed an irrational hate for towels. They laughed against each other's mouths when Caroline was finally able to take his shirt off clumsily, dropping it to the ground, and she unbuckled his belt. Stefan hissed with her lip between his teeth.

He wrapped his fingers around both of her wrists and lifted her arms, putting them against the wall, grinding his hips against hers. Caroline's moan on his mouth was enough for him to drop his arms and grab her thighs to pull her up.

She wrapped his waist with her shaking legs and pressed her heels against his ass. The towel was going dangerously up. He started to climb the steps blindly, leaning and resting his hand against the wall sometimes to find the way and keep their balance.

He opened the door of one of the bedrooms with his foot and he walked forward until Caroline's back hit the closest object, this time the wardrobe, which staggered, threatening to fall. Caroline really wondered if it was possible to have an orgasm without actually having had sex yet.

She reached for the button of his jeans and pulled them down a little and he started to suck and lick her neck slowly. His mouth found hers again and he slid down his hand to the knot of the towel, over her breasts. She pulled him away quickly.

"No, wait, wait, wait" she said, breathless. Stefan was completely dishevelled and his gaze was hungry and dark. "This can't happen yet."  
"Yes, it can, that's the whole point" he kissed her again but then she pulled him away again.  
"Seriously, I have to tell you something" she swallowed, her chest going up and down fast due to her breathing.  
"Hm-hm" he kissed her again and even though she actually responded to the kiss, then she pulled away a second later.  
"I just… When I get something that I wanted for a really long time, sometimes I do this thing…"  
"You overthink things" he nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I know."

Stefan brushed her lips with his but she placed her hands against his chest to look at him.

"Stefan, I…" she looked around, her cheeks blushing. "I've never, you know."  
"Oh" he said, realizing what she was trying to say, although he had suspected it for a long time. He knew her too well, after all.  
"Yeah."

She looked away, embarrassed, and he took her chin with his fingers to brush his lips against hers softly. He put his arm around her waist tightly and walked over to the bed, lying her down slowly and carefully. He rested his elbow next to her to find some support and looked at her.

"We… Listen, we don't have to if you're not ready, or we don't need to get to the end if-"

She pulled him to her by the neck and kissed him again, making him even more confused. She was actually ready, she was just nervous, scared. But every time he kissed her, those fears vanished again. The heat was starting to increase again when she pulled down his jeans with her feet and when she led her hands to the hem of his boxers.

Her arms were held against the mattress in a blink of an eye, his fingers around her wrists again, his hips against hers making her feel the hardness repressed by his jeans, and he was staring at her with that hungry look once more.

"What-"

He put a finger against her lips and she closed her mouth, not averting her eyes from him. He slid his hand down until he knuckles brushed the knot of her towel. He opened the towel slowly and finally removed it, letting it drop on the ground.

The tension, the attraction filled the room immediately again. He wandered his eyes all over her, seeing her naked for the first time and his gaze darkened even more. He started to stroke her body with his knuckles slowly, stroking her breasts, her stomach, and finally her waist.

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. Caroline bit her lower lip to restrain a smile. He leaned down and started to kiss her neck slowly. All her skin was able to feel was his lips, his breath against her, his mouth sucking, licking, his teeth biting. He slid his mouth over her whole body, kissing every part and corner of it, until he grabbed her thighs and placed her legs over his shoulders. Caroline swallowed, anticipating the moment, and Stefan finally buried his head between her legs.

She arched her back, held her breathing and squeezed the sheets with her fingers as soon as she felt his tongue twirling around her. She pressed her heels against his back, practically making him eat her, and a moan escaped from her throat, a shiver running through her whole body. He looked up and started kissing her up again, until his face was at the same level of hers. He grinded his hips against hers and she felt his hardness. She did not know how, but he had managed to pull down his boxers in some moment when he had been working her up down there.

He brushed her lips with hers softly and pushed into her slowly. They stared intently at each other, their lips crashing, a moan emerging from the depth of his throat. She thought she heard him say _oh God_ against her mouth when he pushed deeply, but she was not very sure, she could only think of the feeling of him inside of her.

* * *

He blinked several times when he heard the birds singing outside before opening his eyes completely. He looked down slightly and his chin brushed Caroline's hair. Their legs were intertwined, the sheets barely covering them, her messy and sexy curls all over his shoulder since her head was resting against his chest.

He had his arm around her waist and his hand against the small of her back. His lips formed a little smile. He had never felt so happy in his whole life. He pulled her to him and she moved a little, but did not wake up.

He brushed his lips against her forehead when he felt something under him. He reached between his back and the mattress and pulled out the ring that Damon had given him. He had put it in the pocket of his jeans, and it had probably fallen from there when Caroline had removed them the previous night.

He smiled, watching the ring with his eyes. He was sure he had seen it somewhere else, but where? He put it on and stared intently at it. It was old, but not bad.

He leaned his cheek against Caroline's head and let out a sigh, closing his eyes again with a smile on his lips. She was finally with him, inside his arms.

And then it happened.

 _"Well, okay, you want to go with them. I'll go with you."  
_ _"Caroline…" he looked away again. "You can't come."  
_ _"I'll be fine, okay? I'll behave if it's necessary, I'll try to-"  
_ _"Caroline, I don't want you to come with me."_

 _"I'm forgetting her, Damon. Caroline. I'm cursed, a spell is making me forget her a little every day until I don't remember her anymore. It's their punishment."_

 _Stefan looked down to the floor with watery eyes and Damon looked at him, unable to speak._

 _"I'm forgetting every single moment that I've had with her, and there will come a day when I won't remember anything. I… I won't remember her, Damon."_

 _One pip, another one, and then he got the call, but did not say anything._

 _"Stefan?" she asked in a whisper._

 _Silence._

 _"Why didn't you tell me?" she said with weak voice. She was about to burst into tears. "Stefan, please. I… I need to hear your voice and know that you were real" Caroline sobbed. "I tried to hate you. I tried with all my will, but I can't. Because it's you. You are you. Tell me that you haven't forgotten me. Tell me that-"_

 _He hung up, covering his face with his eyes as he cried like he had never cried before._

 _"And what will happen when I forget you? Huh?" he asked her. Caroline shook her head.  
_ _"We'll not let that happen" she said.  
_ _"No?"  
_ _"No" she shook her head again. "Because I will make you remember" she said in a whisper._

 _She leaned toward him a little but Stefan placed a hand on her cheek._

 _"How?"_

 _She smiled slightly and brushed his lips with hers a little, closing her eyes._

 _"No need of journals, Stefan" she said, close to his lips. "You have me. I can tell you everything myself. And when that doesn't have any effect, I'll just…"_

 _Caroline pressed her lips against his, giving him a slow, simple kiss. She opened her eyes and saw that Stefan was already staring at her._

 _"And what will happen once I forget also about that?" he asked her.  
_ _"I'll give you another" she said, placing her hands on both sides of his neck to give him another peak. Stefan closed his eyes tightly, enjoying the touch of her lips. It had been years without her, without her kisses. He licked his lips, trying to mark the taste of her mouth on his skin, and she opened her sparkly eyes.  
_ _"Caroline… No, don't…"  
_ _"Stefan, please" she begged._

 _Stefan looked at her for a few seconds, but then looked away, trying very hard not to let go. Caroline grabbed his chin to make him look at her again and although Stefan tried to avoid her gaze, he finally looked at her and gulped._

 _"Look at me and tell me you don't want to come back, with me" she said.  
_ _"How wouldn't I want to be with you?" he asked her. "Did you read my journals?"  
_ _"Then, come with me" she squeezed his shirt tightly helplessly "I will remember for both of us."_

 _Stefan had his fingers around her neck, squeezing with a fury and an anger never seen before._

 _"You" he said, gritting his teeth. "I lost everything."_

 _Valerie smiled and he squeezed more._

 _"I forgot and lost her because of you."_

 _The engine of a car was heard outside and Valerie looked down, trying to listen carefully. Stefan's super hearing caught Caroline's voice, and then Bonnie's._

 _"Should we go separate ways? Should we…?"_

 _Stefan looked at Valerie and widened his eyes._

 _"No" he said in a whisper._

 _Valerie mumbled something fast and Stefan flew out against the opposite wall. The spell had been so powerful that everything around had exploded, causing and making a loud noise. Stefan staggered a little but straightened up. He started walking towards her, ready to kill her if it was necessary, but he stopped in the middle of the room, freezing._

 _He looked down at his chest as Valerie walked over to him with his heart in her hand._

 _"You should never play with witches" she said. "And you should have never challenged me."_

 _He looked at her as he was starting to suffocate, his skin starting to turn grey from bottom to top._

 _"Caroline" he said, almost without voice, falling to the ground and touching his chest with his hand._

 _Valerie let his heart drop from her hand and walked out. Stefan was touching his chest with a shaking hand, as if he was trying to relive himself somehow. The noise around was starting to become blurry, as his sight was._

 _"Blondie!"_

 _Damon was there, he would see him and fix it. He was starting to feel how his neck and chin were getting paralyzed._

 _"Carol…"_

 _He heard a door being opened and then everything went dark. No more sounds, no more feelings, no more Caroline's voice._

His heart was racing, memories filling his mind, remembering, and he opened his eyes wide.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER X**

 _"You and I," I intertwined my fingers with his, "are one."  
_ _"Until the day I die," he promised, "And even after that."  
_ _"For the eternity?" I whispered on his lips.  
_ _"Evermore."  
_ Ariana Godoy.

The water of the shower fell over his head and shoulders. His hands were still shaking and he felt as if his head was going to explode. He looked at his fingers and moved them. He had been human for 18 years. The sliding screen of the shower opened and he sensed her presence immediately.

"Hey" she wrapped his waist with her arms from behind and kissed his back softly. Stefan held his breath in his throat and felt a shiver running through his spine. He looked down and watched her hands stroking his stomach. She was there, she was real. They were finally together.

His eyes got teary and he turned to her to cup her cheeks with his hands. She looked at him with a wide smile and he let out a sigh, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs, watching carefully her face as if it was the first time that he was seeing her.

"Is everything okay?" she said with a frown.  
"Yeah" he breathed out. "Yeah, everything is fine."

He kissed her cheek and leaned his forehead against hers.

"You're here" he said in a whisper. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "You're with me."  
"Of course I'm here, silly" she giggled against his shoulder and he buried his face in her wet hair as the tears fell down his cheeks. These were camouflaged with the drops of water.

He did not want to let her go, not now that she was with him again. He did not know if they were in hell or in heaven, he had no idea of what had happened and he was scared that all of it was a dream. And she seemed to not remember anything that happened before. But when? He died, how much time had passed?

He needed to find out, he needed to know the truth and talk to Damon as soon as possible. He felt guilty, guilty for kissing and hugging Caroline and not telling her the things that she did not seem to know. Why did she not remember?

His thoughts were interrupted when she literally attacked his mouth with her lips, laughing. He smiled too, letting her take control. Guilt increasing but he just could not help it.

"I'm going to see if there's anything for breakfast in that kitchen" she said.  
"Okay" he said. "We should leave as soon as we eat something."  
"You don't want to stay and try to find something about your uncle?"

 _Hah. Funny. He had been trying to find out about himself all along._

"No, I… I've decided to ask Dam-, my dad, directly. It's stupid to keep stretching this uncertainty on."

She nodded and kissed his cheek before leaving the bathroom. He ran a hand over his face, following her with his eyes.

Caroline descended the last step, buttoning her jeans, and stumbled over Stefan's belt on the ground. She bit her lower lip to restrain a smirk, and she was going to head to the kitchen when her eye caught the only thing that seemed to not fit among the order. The smile of her face started to vanish as she approached the sideboard. Her hand took the photo and she brought it closer to her face so that she could see it better, narrowing her eyes.

She focused on the image of the torn photo that she was holding. Her eyes met the ones of the girl posing in the picture. That girl was not just similar to her, she was identical, the same. She was staring at herself. Her eyes, her nose and her hair. Her face got pale and her eyes widened at the woman smiling as someone was hugging her from behind, with their arms wrapped around their waist.

She covered her mouth with the shaking fingers of her hand. She remembered perfectly well who was the person hugging the woman in the picture, because she had already seen him. Stefan had shown her the torn photo of his uncle that he had found days ago, and now she was holding the other half of the picture.

The woman of the photo was the love of Stefan's uncle's life. The woman that he had written about in his journals, the protagonist of the story of the lovers of the cemetery.

 _"I'm not always broody, not when I'm with you."  
_ _"Yeah, I know" she giggled, stroking his chest. "So, anyway, as I was saying, it's the first birthday we spend together, so I bought something."_

 _She pulled away, though she had it difficult because Stefan did not want to let go of her hand._

 _"You know? It's your birthday, I'm the one who has to buy stuff, not you."  
_ _"It's just a camera, Stefan" she said, pulling the device out of her bag.  
_ _"For what?"_

 _She raised her eyebrows at him and he realized how stupid he had sounded._

 _"I mean-"  
_ _"I want to keep memories of everything" she placed the camera on the table and ran backwards towards Stefan again until he grabbed her waist with his hands. "Can you smile? Or am I going to have to force you?"  
_ _"Will you just give me a break?" he bit her neck playfully just when the camera made the picture._

Caroline swallowed and gripped the edge of the piece of furniture with one hand, breathing heavily. She heard Stefan's steps as he descended the stairs, drying his hair with a towel, another one hanging from his hips. She crumpled up the photo in her hand and hid it behind her back, offering him a smile.

"Hey" he said with a little smile. "Couldn't find the kitchen? It's not very difficult, Caroline."  
"Hah, hah" she stuck out her tongue at him and he rolled his eyes, walking over to her. He squeezed her waist with his hands and pulled her to him, making her giggle.  
"So, listen, I was thinking…" he cleared his throat and looked down at her. "What if we leave this house and we just… go back home?"  
"Oh, you really don't want to find any clue or hint about your uncle anymore?" she said, looking around a little nervously and squeezing the photo in her hand.  
"No, I just want to go home, be with… you" he said. She nodded.  
"I actually think that's a great idea" she said, putting the photo inside the back pocket of her jeans carefully. "Let's go home."

He nodded and walked towards the stairs again. Caroline swallowed hard, her heart beating fast.

 _"Are you going to tell me what we're doing here?" Enzo asked, looking around with the hands in his pockets.  
_ _"I'm just…" Bonnie looked at the floor, recalling the day Caroline found Stefan's body there. "Checking something."_

 _Enzo nodded and did not ask more questions. He knew that she had plans in her mind even if she had not told him about them yet. She probably would once she was ready._

 _"Would you mind waiting outside?"  
_ _"Sure" he kissed her forehead and walked out of the house._

 _Bonnie looked around again before her eyes landed on a specific spot on the floor. She was not able to restrain a feeling of apprehension and sadness when she saw the old stain of blood, impregnated there forever because of the blood of Stefan's heart._

 _She heard Caroline's cries and sobs in her own mind in form of echo as she pulled out her photo from her bag. She stared at it with a sad face._

 _"Oh, Care."_

 _She placed it on the sideboard and sighed._

 _"One day, maybe. Right?" she smiled a little and stroked Caroline's face in the picture with her fingertips. "If you're ready."_

 _She watched Caroline's smile in the picture for a few seconds and then she wiped her cheek fast._

 _"Yeah, one day" she turned around and walked over to the door._

* * *

 _Stefan sat down on the bed with the ring in his hand. Caroline would have loved it, he was sure of it. And he had pictured her face when asking her to marry him so many times already. And for what?_

 _He gulped and squeezed the ring with his hand, a lump forming in his throat._

 _"I'm telling you I don't have that damn jacket, Bonnie" Stefan heard Damon saying. He looked up, listening carefully.  
_ _"I left it here, okay? I'm not crazy."  
_ _"That's what you say."  
_ _"Damon."  
_ _"What? I'm trying to find it too!"  
_ _"Following me everywhere isn't trying to find my jacket, Damon."_

 _He heard Damon sigh and he shook his head._

 _"Wait, now that I remember… I think I put a feminine jacket in the washing machine."  
_ _"What?"  
_ _"And after that, I put the clothes in the dryer. Look, without Stefan here, it's difficult. I don't understand those things."  
_ _"Damon, did you read the label of my jacket? Because it's delicate and-"  
_ _"So, Carebear is waiting in the car?"_

 _Stefan froze instantly and Damon and Bonnie's voices became distant echoes. He rose to his feet slowly and walked to the window. His heart jumped as soon as he saw her. She moved her shoulders and lifted her head from the space between her knees, pulling her hair away from her forehead._

 _"Caroline" he said in a weak whisper._

 _Her eyes wandered from her hands to the dashboard until she looked up and stared blankly at the window. Stefan swallowed hard and gave a step backwards. And then she seemed to freeze and her eyes widened in shock. He ran towards the wardrobe to put the ring in the drawer again and hid away in the bathroom._

 _"Stefan?" she asked in a whisper._

 _He shut his eyes tightly and leaned his back against the wall._

 _"No, no" she said in a whisper. Stefan pursed his lips to restrain a sob. "Please, please, stop" she begged.  
_ _"If you don't want them to shrink, don't leave your clothes here!" Damon shouted in the hallway.  
_ _"You shouldn't have put it into the dryer, why don't you ever read the labels?"  
_ _"I don't know, Bonnie! I just took all the clothes and… Blondie?"_

 _Stefan heard Damon walking into the bedroom fast._

 _"Blondie, hey…"  
_ _"Caroline…" Bonnie said softly.  
_ _"Stefan, he… He was…" Stefan covered his face with his hands when heard the fear in her voice and sat down on the floor.  
_ _"Come on, let's go to the kitchen" Damon said. "I'm sure there'll be something you can take to calm down. Bonnie… maybe Bonnie can make something."  
_ _"No, I… I gotta get out of here."  
_ _"Sure, I'll drive you home" Bonnie said.  
_ _"I need to be alone."_

 _Stefan heard her steps as she walked out._

 _"I shouldn't have brought her here" Bonnie mumbled.  
_ _"She has to get over it" Damon said.  
_ _"She can't, Damon. It's been months and… I'm worried, I think she needs help but I don't know what to-"  
_ _"She has to get over it, Bonnie" he repeated. "Stefan left. Period. She has to face it."_

 _Bonnie snorted and walked away. A gasp emerged from Stefan's throat to restrain a sob. Damon sighed. He had clearly heard him._

 _"Everyone should face it" he murmured before leaving the bedroom._

Stefan stopped the car in front of the boarding house. He had had the best days in a very long time thanks to Caroline, but he could not help but feel bad. Caroline did not remember him, or worse, she did not remember anything about her previous life. And he did not know what to do.

His phone buzzed in that exact moment and he checked the message.

 _C: Ok, I know it's only been 10 minutes but I already miss you._

He smiled tenderly and shook his head. Even if she did not remember, she was still the same Caroline.

 _S: And I love you.  
_ _C: Duh._

He chuckled and started to walk to the door. Damon was standing in the living room, his back to him. Stefan watched him for a few seconds and smiled softly. He leaned his side against the wall and cleared his throat.

Damon looked at him over his shoulder with a smirk on his face.

"So" he said.  
"So" Stefan repeated; his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I'm back."

And that was enough for Damon to know, to understand the meaning behind those words. He looked down and nodded. And then, he just walked towards him and Stefan laughed when Damon hugged him tightly, patting his back.

"It's been almost 100 years" he said. "I can't believe it, I…"  
"I know" Stefan said.  
"I thought you were dead, I saw you dead."  
"Yeah, actually, I was."  
"And Bonnie… She made it, I can't believe she made it."

Stefan pulled back to look at him.

"So it was her" he said. Damon nodded.

Elena appeared behind them and gaped at them. Stefan turned to look at her and Elena looked down at the daylight ring in his finger.

"So it's true" she said, in shock.  
"Turns out Bonnie was considerate enough to leave her a letter explaining everything to her" Damon said, pointing at Elena with his head. "Enzo sent it to us."  
"Oh my God" Elena said before hugging Stefan tightly. "I can't believe it's you."  
"I know, I can't believe it either" Stefan said, looking at Damon, who rolled his eyes. "For the record, you two are the best parents someone could ask for. Well, you, because Damon…"

Elena laughed with teary eyes and pulled back.

"This means that Caroline…"  
"Caroline" Stefan bit the inside of his cheek and looked down. "Well, the good news is that we're together, kind of."

Damon chuckled and Elena's face lit up.

"The bad news is that she… Well, she doesn't remember anything, I think."  
"Aaaaand the roles are reversed. Great" Damon sighed. "I can't believe we're going through this again."  
"I don't know what to do" Stefan rubbed his neck, shaking his head. "I can't do this to her, I can't do as if I didn't remember anything."  
"But-" Elena started.  
"I can't be with her, I feel like I'm lying to her" Stefan flopped on the couch and Elena and Damon exchanged a look. "And at the same time, I want to be with her, but…" he shook his head. "It's not right, and I have no right to force her to remember what really happened because this is her new life, and she's okay with it, and she's… happy."

He looked down and Damon narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Listen, Caroline might remember by herself. Maybe, if you help her a little…"  
"Damon" Elena warned.  
"I'm just saying that if Stefan recreates moments that were important to them, moments from their previous lives, she might remember by herself."  
"Well…" Elena looked at Stefan. "It's not such a bad idea, right?"

Stefan sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"I don't know, I guess it might work. I just don't want to make her put a ring on so that she can remember me. I know she wouldn't do that if it was me the one who-"  
"Blah, blah, blah, and the story is repeated again" Damon mumbled, looking away.  
"What am I supposed to do, Damon?"  
"Well, we actually can make her put that ring on, because that's what she'd want if it means being with you."

Elena and Stefan looked at Damon, surprised.

"What? I… I finally understood her after years and years of mourning you."  
"Damon" Elena said again. "Even if you'd do that, we don't even know where Caroline is supposed to put on that ring. By the way, how did Bonnie make this spell? It's powerful magic, it's…"  
"Stefan" Damon said before losing his patience. "Try the first option. Try to recreate moments, make her remember in a natural way. It might work."

Stefan looked intently at him.

"Trust me, if she knew you were alive, if she knew everything, she wouldn't want you to leave her. Again."

Stefan swallowed and looked down, nodding his head.

* * *

She opened the door and welcomed him with a wide smile before jumping on him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You're late" she said, brushing his lips with hers.  
"Am I?" he said with another smile.  
"Good news, Marien is going to spend the afternoon and evening with some friends, so…" she smirked at him and he raised his eyebrows.  
"So?"  
"So we'll be alone, in the house" she whispered.  
"I've heard you, Care!" Marien yelled from upstairs, which made Caroline blush and Stefan purse his lips to restrain a laugh.  
"Actually, I was thinking of spending the day doing something else" he said. She frowned at him.

Stefan showed her the gift that he had been hiding under his back.

"But-"  
"I know, not your birthday, not Christmas, but uh, since I have to deal with you now because you're my, you know, girlfriend and all of that-"  
"Am I your girlfriend?" she asked, amused. He raised an eyebrow at her.  
"Come on, you know you are" he placed his hand against the small of her back to pull her to him. "You actually had a crush on me since that day I walked out the hall and you saw me and-"  
"Stefan, we met in the office of the couch" she said with a giggle.

Stefan closed his mouth suddenly and cleared his throat.

"Oh, yeah, right, uh…"  
"Are you okay? You're starting to sound like me when I ramble. I can help you calm down if you want…" she kissed his jaw and he gulped and closed his eyes.  
"Actually, that makes me even more nervous" he said.  
"Yeah?" she kissed his neck now.  
"Well, I mean, it doesn't affect me that much, it's just-" he gasped when she bit his earlobe.  
"Wow" she said, pulling back, with her hand against his chest.  
"What?"  
"Your heart, it's racing" she patted his chest and he narrowed his eyes at her.  
"Caroline, will you listen to me?" he said, laughing. "Open the gift."  
"Fine."

She unwrapped it and opened the box. There was a bike helmet inside. Stefan looked expectantly at her, watching carefully to see her reaction, to see if she remembered that the helmet was the one that he gave her years and years ago, days after he told her that he would wait for her.

She stared intently, holding it with her hands. Stefan's heart started to race when he saw the wrinkle in her forehead, her look expressing familiarity and confusion at the same time.

Caroline cleared her throat slightly and looked up at him.

"What's this for? I don't have a bike."

His face returned to his usual expression at realizing that it had not worked.

"Yeah, but I do" he finally said, a little disappointed. "And I want you to have your own helmet."

She laughed, shaking her head.

"You're so weird" she kissed his cheek. "In the good sense, of course."  
"Yeah, sure" he said, snatching the helmet from her hands to put it on her head.  
"Hey!"  
"You're cute" he said, pulling from the strips of the helmet to bring her closer and kiss her.

When he pulled back, he stared intently at her as she giggled, remembering all the times that he had seen her wearing that helmet. And all the bike trips that they used to take around Mystic Falls in the late night just because she wanted to feel the wind against her face.

* * *

She swallowed the last spaghetti and he could not help but smile at her delighted face.

"Why do you cook so well?" she pouted at her empty plate.  
"I think it's to balance out" he bit the inside of his cheek.  
"To balance out what?"  
"Your awful cooking skills."

She glared at him and he shrugged with a smile. She nodded, grabbing her glass, and she suddenly threw the water in his face. He closed his eyes and pursed his lips, the drops of water falling from his chin.

"I guess I deserved it" he said, opening his eyes.  
"Yeah" she said with a smile.  
"But, you hadn't let me finish" he rose and approached her. "If you had, you'd have heard that you have great organizational skills."

He put his arms around her waist and she rolled her eyes with a hint of smile on her face.

"Oh, I have something for you" he suddenly said, walking towards the counter.

He took a pot from a cupboard and sat on the stool next to hers. He showed it to her and she frowned.

"Okaaay."  
"See that cookie inside?" he asked, pointing at it. "It's our cookie."  
"What are you talking about?" she said, laughing. He smiled and pulled the cookie out.  
"You think I'm crazy, but we were actually together in our previous lives" he took her hand to interlace their fingers and she raised her eyebrows. "And you kept this cookie because it was our cookie."

 _Stefan walked into the kitchen with a worried face, looking around after hearing Caroline's scream. He found her kneeling on the ground, and she seemed to be controlling herself not to cry, or maybe not to have one of her psychotic breakdowns._

 _"What's wrong?" he asked her. Caroline shook her head, pouting. "Caroline?"_

 _Stefan crouched beside her and tucked the hair that was covering her face behind her ear. She looked sad._

 _"Hey…" Stefan stroked her cheek with his thumb and Caroline winced. "Caroline, are you going to tell me what is happening or…?"_

 _Caroline pointed at the biscuit beside her on the floor. Stefan looked at it with a frown, not understanding._

 _"It was the last cookie, and it fell to the ground" Caroline explained. Stefan looked at her blankly, not knowing if she was kidding or not.  
_ _"Mm" he managed to mumble.  
_ _"What am I going to do now?" she wondered. Stefan could not help but curve his lips into a smile. That was too much. He tried to turn his face slightly so that Caroline would not realize that he was laughing, but he was not so lucky. She glared at him and Stefan pursed his lips.  
_ _"Come here…" Stefan tried to hug her, but Caroline gave him a shove on the shoulder and he fell to the ground, laughing._

Caroline looked at him as though he was crazy.

"Our cookie" she repeated.  
"Uh-huh."  
"And what's the story of our famous cookie, if I'm allowed to know?"  
"Well, you wanted cookies for breakfast, so I bought them for you. And this was the last one, but it fell to the floor, and you started crying, and crying, and crying" he put an arm around her waist to pull her to him and she smiled. "But you wanted to keep it, because you knew we'd reunite in our next lives. I mean, it's our cookie. It's not a normal cookie, you know?"  
"Are you high?" she asked with a giggle.

He smiled and pressed his lips against hers quickly.

"Well, if it's our cookie, we should eat it now that we're reunited, as you say" she said, snatching the cookie from his hand.  
"Caroline, that cookie is older than us" he said in a very serious tone. "It probabl-"

Caroline put the cookie inside his mouth and he took a bite against his will. He winced instantly at the ugly taste and she could not help but laugh at the expression of his face.

"Oh, this is funny to you?" he asked, bringing his face closer to hers with his mouth full of cookie.  
"No, no, no, please" she said, laughing, placing her hands against his chest to stop him.

But Stefan pressed his lips against hers again and she made a wince too. That cookie really tasted very bad. He pulled back and saw her disgusted face, and it was so funny that he could not help but laugh out loud.

"How much time has that cookie been there, Stefan?" she asked, wiping her mouth. He laughed again and then sighed.  
"You don't even want to know, trust me."  
"What are you doing, lovebirds?" Damon appeared in the door.  
"Your son is trying to poison me" Caroline said.  
"Hey!" Stefan pinched her stomach and she pulled his hand away, shaking her head.  
"I need the bathroom, and a sanitizer. Do you guys have any sanitizer?" she asked, leaving the kitchen.

Stefan looked at Damon, who was staring at him with folded arms. Stefan snorted and looked down.

"You were serious when you said that you were going to try to make her remember with the cookie" Damon said.  
"Yes."  
"Obviously, it didn't work."

Stefan bit the inside of his cheek.

"Nope."

* * *

He opened his eyes when he heard her mumble, and saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, looking for her shirt. He watched her bare back, her curls stroking her skin.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a whisper. She looked at him over her shoulder.  
"Looking for my shirt" she replied.  
"Were you planning to escape again? At this hour of the morning?" he crawled over the bed towards her and pressed his lips against her shoulder. "You can always walk out the house, you know, like a normal person."  
"And taking the risk of crossing paths with your mom or hearing the little jokes of your dad?"  
"Hmm."

Caroline looked around, trying to remember where she had thrown her shirt the previous night. Stefan felt about under the bed until his hand grabbed a shirt and he pulled it out.

"Wear this" he said.  
"But that's yours."  
"Exactly" he said, putting on the shirt over her head before she could say anything.

He looked at her with the shirt and could not help but smile tenderly.

 _"You shouldn't have left yesterday" Stefan turned around carefully so Caroline would not fall. "You should have stayed…" he stroked her chin with his thumb and she smiled, shaking her head. "To celebrate that I have the house back and-"_

 _Caroline pressed her lips against his and Stefan smiled, putting his hands under her shit to stroke her back._

 _"Happy?"  
_ _"No, not yet" he said, amused._

 _He leaned and kissed her again, standing straight to put his arms around her waist._

 _"Wait" she pulled him away gently and sighed.  
_ _"What?" he asked, watching her lips. "Hey, you're wearing my shirt, the one that you took without asking me, little thief."_

She frowned at him with a questioning look.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

He looked up at her and shrugged slightly.

"I like to see you wearing my clothes" he simply said.  
"Yeah, well, you've made a big mistake, actually. I'd thought of stealing this shirt from you already, and now that you've given it to me, I'm not going to give it back to…"

She closed her mouth and looked down at the shirt, realizing how she was gripping the piece of clothing with her hand.

 _Caroline pulled the shirt out of the bag carefully, as if it could break in her hands. She stared at it for a few seconds and finally buried her face in it, breathing in his scent, his essence. It smelled like Stefan. It smelled like home._

 _It smelled like everything that she missed._

 _She looked toward the fireplace of her room with the fire burning and squeezed the shirt with her fingers tightly._

 _"Do it, Caroline, just do it" she told herself, walking towards the fireplace. "It's just a shirt."_

 _She looked intently at the flames and then closed her eyes, remembering all the moments that they had spent together besides a fire burning. Every secret, every kiss, every laugh._

 _The heat of the fire also reminded her of him._

 _She sat on her knees and began to control her breathing as she had been learning in order not to suffer another panic attack. She looked at the wrinkled shirt in her hands and squeezed it against her chest._

 _"I miss you, I miss you so much…" she whispered, her voice shaking._

Caroline frowned slightly and Stefan looked expectantly at her. She brought her nose closer to the shirt to smell it and Stefan thought that his heart had stopped.

"It smells like you" she said, distracted. "It smells like-"  
"Like what?" Stefan urged, staring intently into her eyes.

She looked at him and he thought that there was something different in her eyes.

"Home" she finally said. "It smells like home."  
"Caroline" he said after nodding, cupping her cheek. "Listen…"  
"Oh my God" she said suddenly, seeing askance the time in the clock of the wall. "I really have to go. Marien is going to open the door of my bedroom to wake me up in 15 minutes."

She rose to her feet and Stefan dropped his hand to the mattress, pursing his lips.

"Thank you for the shirt" she said before giving him a kiss on the cheek.  
"Yeah…"

She grabbed her shoes and her bag and opened the window.

"You really need to stop doing that" he said from the bed.

She giggled and stuck her tongue out at him before disappearing.

* * *

 _Caroline left the building of the faculty with Bonnie at her side and a coffee in hand as she told her friend about the heavy essay that would take pages and pages to write. Bonnie elbowed her suddenly and Caroline looked up and stopped talking._

 _Stefan was there, in the distance, leaning against his bike, arms crossed, watching her with a soft smile on his face. Her heart began to beat fast and she gave Bonnie the coffee without looking away from him._

 _"I'll see you later" she said._

 _She started walking briskly toward him, smiling as she approached him. Stefan gave a step forward just before Caroline pounced on him, wrapping his waist with her legs and his neck with her arms._

Caroline stared at the building, her head titled to one side.

"What are we doing here again?" she asked, Stefan pulling her by the hand.  
"I told you, I want to see what Whitmore looks like, think about my options. You should too."

He opened the door of the building for her and the sound of college students' voices filled their ears.

"I know you still have a year left in high school but I thought it'd be cool to, you know, decide together."

She looked at him with a little smile and he took her hand. Stefan slowed down when he saw the vending machine from the corner of his eye and he could not help but smile. Caroline followed the direction of his eyes and she pulled him by the hand this time.

"Let's buy something" she said. "I'm thirsty."

He chuckled and Caroline frowned at him.

"What?"  
"Nothing" he rubbed his neck as Caroline bought a soda. She heard some murmur and looked at the girls sitting at the tables, staring at Stefan's back with a grin on their faces.  
"Huh" she said.  
"What?" he asked this time.  
"I don't know if it's a good idea to leave you alone here for a whole year. So many snakes" she said under her breath.

Stefan looked at the girls over his shoulder and they, instead of averting their eyes, kept staring intently at him.

"Hmm" he said, placing his hands on her waist and turning her around. He brought his body closer to hers until her back hit the vending machine. "Too bad for them I'm already taken."

Caroline saw the intensity with which he was staring at her lips and her heart raced.

"We're in public, Stefan" she reminded him.  
"I know" he pressed his lips against her neck and she laughed, seeing the other girls look down. He sighed against her skin and then pulled back to look at her. "This could be our spot."  
"Our spot?"  
"Yeah, to make out, nights and nights to make out against this vending machine."

She smiled, blushing, and rolled her eyes.

"Let's continue our tour or you'll have to look for a bathroom to take a cold shower."

He smiled as she pulled his hand again. He looked at the vending machine over his shoulder. Their humanity-off time had been nothing compared to everything that they had been through.

A couple of hours later, they left the building. Caroline was excited because of the amount of modules and courses that she had liked; Stefan had a lot of pamphlets that she had taken in his hands.

She was talking and talking about all the things that had caught her attention when he saw the old message on one of the walls of one of the buildings of the campus. He had written it years ago when Caroline was studying there, for her birthday.

He remembered how he had tried to deny that he had been the one to do it when she asked him, but she knew him enough to know when he was lying.

Caroline stopped suddenly when she saw the message on the wall. She stood in front of it, reading the words with wide eyes.

 _I want you always to remember me  
_ _Happy birthday_

Stefan stood behind her, smiling softly.

 _"What, Bonnie?! I was in the middle of a class, in case you haven't noticed" Caroline said as her friend pulled her hand.  
_ _"You have no idea what's going on out there. It's so funny. Happy birthday, by the way."  
_ _"Thanks, but what is…?"_

 _Bonnie stopped in front of the wall of a building. Caroline gaped at what she was seeing and gave a step forward involuntarily._

 _"He did this, right?" Bonnie asked, folding her arms. "I mean, look at the handwriting, it's so Stefan's" she laughed. "I guess those words have a meaning for you?" Caroline was feeling very touched and Bonnie looked at her from the corner of her eye. "Caroline Forbes, are you crying?"  
_ _"No, I'm not" she said with sparkling eyes, laughing and shaking her head.  
_ _"Aw, Caroline" Bonnie leaned her head against her arm and Caroline burst into laughter and sniffed. "He's so whipped."  
_ _"I can't believe he's done this" Caroline said._

Caroline's heart was beating very fast and she did not understand why. It was like a sign, seeing their favorite quote written there.

"That's…" she started. "Is that the beginning of that line of _Norwegian Wood_?"  
"I think it is" he said, putting his arms around her waist from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder. "Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?" she put her hands over his and smiled softly. He looked at her askance and saw the sparkle in her eyes. He swallowed, crossing his fingers. "Hey, you okay?" he took their hands and interlaced their fingers.

She got startled and looked at their joined hands.

"Yes, I just…" she swallowed and smiled. "It's such a beautiful coincidence, right?"

She looked into his eyes and he watched her face in silence for a few seconds. He lowered his gaze and nodded.

"Yeah."  
"You were right, I love Whitmore" Caroline turned around and placed her hands against his chest. "Let's go home, my plan for this afternoon is check all these programs and the courses that you could take."

He chuckled and nodded before kissing her forehead.

* * *

He had planned to take her there when he had seen the ring on the bedside table the night before.

 _He looked at her as he stroked her bare arm with his fingertips. He let out an inevitable sigh and closed his eyes. There was not being any progress, and he did not know what else he could do to make Caroline remember something, even if it was just little pieces of memories from the past. And at the same, the guilty kept growing and growing inside of him; he was not proud of what he was trying to do. Force Caroline to remember a past life just because he wanted her to? He was not like that. He knew that this was not a choice to make, since Caroline did not know all her options, but what right did he have to offer her a past, old life when she had started over with a new, happy one?_

 _Was it fair to be with her knowing the truth, while she did not?_

 _e wandered his eyes around the room, not getting any answer to his doubts and questions, and then he caught a glimpse of the familiar object. He frowned immediately and his heart stopped, watching the engagement ring that he had bought for Caroline years ago. He stretched his arm to take it and looked intently at it. It was definitely it._

 _He knew that Caroline used to wear a necklace but he had not noticed the ring that was hanging from it. How and why did she have it?_

"Wait" he stopped in front of the jewelry shop and Caroline frowned. "It's my mom's birthday soon and I haven't gotten her anything yet. What do you think of that bracelet?"  
"It's nice" she said, looking towards the engagement rings helplessly. He noticed and smiled softly.

 _"Hey!" Stefan gave her an affectionate pinch on the side and Caroline chuckled. "When are you going to forgive me for that? I wonder why you have that snow globe kept in your drawer if you don't like it that much."_

 _Caroline cleared her throat, blushing a little. Who was she kidding. She loved it._

 _"Well, I don't want to offend you, that's why I kept it" she said. Stefan chuckled and put his arms around her waist from behind, burying his face in her neck._

 _Caroline put her hand on his, playing with his fingers, and she looked towards the engagement rings helplessly. Stefan noticed._

 _"What do you think of those?" he asked, referring to them.  
_ _"Those are engagement rings, Stefan. Unless you want me to marry Bonnie…"  
_ _"Caroline" Stefan said, exasperated, giving her a playful bite on the neck. "I mean what you think in general."  
_ _"They're… beautiful" she said. Her gaze was fixed on one in particular and Stefan tried to realize which one. "Anyway…" she let out a sigh and kept walking. "Come on, we have too much to buy."_

 _Stefan glanced at the ring before following her._

"What do you think of those?" he asked, pointing at the rings.  
"Those are engagement rings, Stefan" she rolled her eyes. "Are you going to ask your mom to marry you or-"  
"Caroline" he pinched her side playfully. "I mean what you think in general."  
"Oh" she gaped at him for a second and he raised his eyebrows at her. "They're cute" she cleared her throat and looked away. He tried to hide a smile.  
"What do you think about marriage, Caroline?" he asked suddenly. She looked at him with wide eyes.  
"What?" she asked with a nervous laugh.  
"I think you'd look perfect in white" he said. She rolled her eyes and hit his shoulder.  
"Stop playing, you idiot."  
"I'm serious, Caroline" he urged. She laughed nervously but when she realized he was actually being serious, she stopped smiling.  
"Well, uh" she cleared her throat. "Look, don't laugh at me or mock me but… Since I was 10, I always…" she looked at him and he gave her a questioning look. "I've always wanted a… a June wedding" she cleared her throat one last time and he could not help but smile. It did not matter that she did not remember everything, because she clearly was the same Caroline.

He lowered his gaze to the ring. He put his arms around her neck and took the necklace to take the ring.

 _"Forever doesn't sound so bad now that I know I'm going to spend it with you" he said, looking into her eyes.  
_ _"No" she said, smiling. "It doesn't sound bad at all."_

"This is pretty perfect for you" he said, taking her hand and putting the ring on her finger. She watched the move, frozen.

 _She was about to close the drawer when she saw something that made her heart stop for a few seconds. She reached out and took the little blue box. And when she opened it, she could not help but sit down on the bed, watching the so familiar ring._

 _Caroline touched the ring with her index finger, torn between laughing or crying. Stefan was going to ask her to marry him, and she was finding out about it almost two years later._

She stared at the ring for a few seconds, remembering that it had actually belonged to Caroline, the woman that Stefan's uncle, also called Stefan, was in love with. She swallowed hard, a little overwhelmed.

"Not right now" he said. "But…"

Caroline looked up quickly, her thoughts vanishing after hearing his words.

"Are you proposing, Stefan?" she said with a giggle.  
"Well…"  
"I'm 17!" she laughed, shaking her head, and he smiled. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little bit. Marien might have a heart attack."  
"I can wait, Caroline. I'm a patient guy."

She looked at him and he interlaced their fingers. He looked tenderly at her and she bit her lower lip, blushing.

"Let's do one thing" she said, taking the ring to give it to him. "Ask me again, in a few years" he smiled and took the ring.  
"So, once you've finished college and, let's say, found a steady job, you would say yes then, if I asked you again?" he cupped her neck and leaned his forehead against hers. She looked into his eyes and smiled softly.  
"You wouldn't even have to ask, actually."

He smiled before kissing her and she melted against his body.

* * *

Caroline looked up from the notebook of her lap to watch him. He was sitting on the floor, his back against the lower part of the couch, and he was reading a book. Inevitably, she had been thinking about the story of his uncle for days. The photo that she had found had started haunting her again.

She was probably being paranoid, but she had a feeling that deep down she was trying to ignore the facts, the suspicions, the mystery.

"Stefan?"  
"Hmm?"

She bit her lower lip and looked down.

"Any news on your uncle's story? Have you talked to your dad about it?"

Stefan looked up from his book, but not at her. He just stared ahead, at the fireplace without any fire.

"Uh…" he clenched his jaw and swallowed. "No, actually, I haven't. I totally forgot."  
"Forgot?" she repeated incredulously. He looked at her over his shoulder with a frown. "I mean, Stefan, your uncle looks exactly like you and has your name and you… forget about it? And you, well, we were doing a research about him and his story with… Caroline, and-"  
"Why are you asking this?"

Caroline closed her mouth and swallowed. She looked down at her lap, hesitant to say what she was thinking. Things had gotten weird lately, she could feel it. At first, she had not realized. But then she started to notice the pattern, the coincidences. The bike helmet, the cookie, the shirt, the visit to Whitmore, the ring. She had read the journals a while ago, months ago, but she started to remember little by little.

His uncle had bought a bike helmet for his girlfriend; he had written about that day when he had found her crying in the kitchen because the last cookie has fallen to the floor; she had stolen one of his shirts and kept it; they had had their first time at Whitmore; and probably the ring that she had been keeping until she gave it to Stefan was the one that he had bought for his girl, hence the draw of the ring that she found once.

On the one hand, she wondered if Stefan had gotten obsessed with the story and if that was the reason why he was trying to follow a pattern. On the other hand, she wondered if there was something there that she was not seeing clearly, even if she had a feeling that there was more of the story, that the fact that she and Stefan looked exactly like the protagonists of a story written in a book was too sketchy to ignore.

She was scared, because she knew that there way too many coincidences at that point.

"I just…" she looked around. "Do you think the story is real? I mean, do you think… everything happened as how it is written?"

They exchanged a long look in silence, but then he averted his eyes. She furrowed her brow, knowing very well when Stefan tried to hide something. It was difficult for him to look her in the eye when doing so.

He rose to his feet and sat in front of her on the couch, taking her hands in his.

"Hey, listen" he said softly. "Let's forget about all of that right now, okay? All I care is us, you and me."  
"But-"  
"Caroline, listen" he interrupted. She sighed and looked at their joined hands. Stefan looked intently at her. He thought that maybe the reason why she had asked was because she was starting to remember something, or because her brain or her heart were really trying to do it on its own. And he had wanted to see that as another chance. "I know this is going to sound cheesy, and that it has nothing to do with anything we were just talking about but…" he swallowed and she looked back at him. "I just wanted to tell you that loving you has changed my life completely. You are, and always have been, my dream."

She raised her eyebrows as the expression of her face softened.

"You were by my side when I needed a friend" he started, and she smiled a little. "You made me laugh, you even made me dance" he shook his head, smiling. "And-"  
"You told me I'd find love again" she blurted out suddenly, without thinking, and with her eyes fixed on some point of his chin, blank stare on her face.  
"Yeah, exactly" he said, squeezing her hands.  
"That's what… That's what you told me, in New York. You told me that I'd find love but…"

She frowned a little and looked down, feeling confused. He stared expectantly at her, waiting. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I…" she swallowed and opened her eyes. "You know, it's always been you" she cupped his cheek with her hand and he pursed his lips, looking down.

Another failed attempt.

She brushed his lips with hers with a little smile on her face, and then she gave him a soft, slow peck. But she felt how still he was, not cupping her face with his hands as he used to do, not tangling his fingers in her hair, not that soft moan that used to come out of his mouth every time that she kissed him.

She pulled back slowly to look at him and his lips formed a little smile and he looked down, clenching his jaw. It was a fake smile, she knew that, because she had never seen him smile so sadly.

Her body froze instantly, getting cold, a weird shiver running through her spine.

"I… I have to go" he said with weak voice. "I told my parents I'd have dinner with them tonight."

He looked at her and she nodded. He cleared his throat and stood up, grabbing his book. Caroline could not help but rise too, and she was about to follow him to the door when he caressed down her arm and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll call you" he said.

Caroline tried to make visual contact with him but he was looking away all the time. She stood still, seeing him leave and close the door behind him.

* * *

 _May_

Caroline looked intently at the photo that she was holding. It was the one that she had found in Redmond. She stared at that woman that looked exactly like her for a few seconds, her gaze blank.

"Everything okay?" Alex said.

Caroline got startled and put the photo between the pages of a book. She closed her locker and looked at her with a smile.

"Yeah, fine."  
"Are you sure? You've been acting weird lately. You okay?"

Caroline looked at her friend in silence, wondering if it would be a good idea to tell her about all the things that confused her and that she did not understand.

"I'm okay, really."

Alex nodded and pointed at her.

"Cheerleader practice?"  
"Yes, do you want to come?"  
"Doesn't Stefan usually go with you?" Alex asked as they started walking down the hall.  
"Uh, yeah" Caroline put her hair in a bun. "I think he's in the library, doing some task or project with his classmates. You know, the end of the year is coming, so."

Alex looked at her from the corner of her eye and Caroline cleared her throat. She slowed down at seeing something in the upper shelf of one of the glass cabinets of the high school.

Her heart raced and she held her breath in her throat, staying still. Alex stopped a little more ahead of her, frowning at her.

"Care?"

Caroline's eyes widened, sensing a cold feeling running through her body.

 _Caroline sipped her drink and looked at the glass cabinet where the photos of the cheerleaders and the team, the won trophies and the medals, and samples of the uniforms were._

 _"Um, who's that sexy blonde dressed as cheerleader in that picture?" a voice asked behind her. Caroline smiled and rolled her eyes before looking over her shoulder.  
_ _"Her name is Caroline" she said to Stefan.  
_ _"So you know her!" he exclaimed.  
_ _"Oh, yeah."  
_ _"And do you think you could introducer her to me, someday? I'd like to meet her."  
_ _"For what, if I may ask?" she said, raising her eyebrows.  
_ _"You know, to ask her on a date, to have dinner…" he said, wrapping her waist with his arms from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder. Caroline laughed and lifted her arm to bury her fingers in his hair.  
_ _"You're so silly" she said, laughing._

She swallowed hard, her throat dry, staring at her replica posing and smiling in that picture, wearing a similar cheerleader uniform. It would be considered normal if it was not for the fact that Stefan's mom was posing in the picture too.

Caroline put a hand against her chest, trying to calm down, but her heart was beating very fast. Not only because of the photo, but because of the glimpse that her mind had just created. What was it? Something made up by her imagination? A memory? An hallucination?

Her pulse sped up fast and she started to feel a cold sweat on her skin. Her eyesight went blurry and the last thing she heard was the echo of Alex's voice calling her name as she fainted and fell to the ground.

"Caroline, hey" Alex shook her shoulders as people started to crowd together around them. "Please, can someone go and ask for help? Someone go look for the nurse!"

A guy got running to do what Alex told him while she tried to wipe the cold sweat of Caroline's face. Stefan was leaving the library in that moment, chatting with their friends, when one of his mates elbowed him.

"Isn't that Caroline, Stefan?"

Stefan followed the direction of his friend's eyes and he saw her lying on the floor with Alex knelt next to her. He ran off towards them, pushing people out of his way, and bent down next to Caroline, taking her face in his hands.

"What happened?" he asked, staring at Caroline with a worried face.  
"I… I don't know" Alex shrugged. "I just…"

The nurse appeared with two boys that were pulling a pallet. Stefan took Caroline in his arms and placed her on the pallet carefully. He could not stop staring at her, worried, about to lose his nerve.

"Okay, let's take her to the nurse's office" the nurse said to the boys. Stefan showed signs of following her and the nurse stopped him by putting a hand against his chest. "Sorry, I'd let you come but it goes against the rules. I'll let you know when you can see her."  
"But-"  
"I'll let you know" she repeated before walking away.

Stefan followed Caroline with his eyes until she disappeared in the corner and he ran a hand over his face with a worried look. He swallowed and looked around, feeling helpless.

"What happened, Alex?" he asked again, turning to her.  
"I, I don't know, Stefan, really" she said. "We were just talking and she stopped and looked at that glass cabinet and she… collapsed."

Stefan looked at the glass cabinet with a frown and Alex pulled her phone out.

"I'm going to go outside, get better reception and call Marien."

He nodded as she walked away, dialing the number. Stefan approached the glass cabinet and analyzed it carefully. He saw the photo of Caroline, Elena and Bonnie and he swallowed hard.

Stefan opened the door of the nurse's office 20 minutes later, right after the nurse told him that he could finally see her. Caroline was awake, still sitting on the pallet, but with her back against the wall.

"Hey" she said with a weak smile.  
"Hey" he replied with a sad one. She swallowed, knowing that look. He sat on the edge of the pallet and took her hand in his. "You scared me there for a minute.

She smiled softly at him.

"I'm fine" she said. "That's what the nurse said. It was just a…" Caroline looked at him, wondering whether she should tell him or not, "moment under stress. You know, the exams and all of that."

Stefan clenched his jaw and nodded, looking down and knowing that she lying. Or at least, not telling the truth completely. Yes, her faint had been the result of being under stress, but it had not been because of the exams, but because of what she had seeing in the glass cabinet.

"Alex called Marien to tell her what had happened, and as you can imagine, she's worried" he said. She rolled her eyes helplessly. "So I'm going to drive you home. You should take a break for a couple of days, get some rest."

She looked down at their hands and watched the way he was stroking her skin with his finger.

"Okay" she said and looked up at him. The expression of his face made her stomach cringe.  
"I'm gonna go get your things" he was about to rise when she grabbed his hand again and pulled him to her to press her lips against his. Stefan, however, stood still, not reacting.

She pulled back and looked at him, a little scared. He gave her that fake, sad little smile of his again.

"I'll be right back" he said, releasing her hand.

Caroline watched him leave and then stared blankly at the door. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat but the feeling did not go away.

* * *

Stefan closed the door of his bedroom behind him, a backpack hanging from his shoulder, squeezing Caroline's engagement ring inside his hand. Damon appeared at the end of the hall after climbing the stairs.

"Hey, feel like playing darts?" he said with a grin.  
"Uh…" Stefan looked away and averted his eyes. Damon saw the backpack and squinted at him.  
"Going somewhere? Another road trip with blondie?"

Stefan clenched his jaw and looked at the floor in silence. Damon's realization hit the expression of his face.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, Stefan?" Damon asked harshly.  
"She doesn't remember me" he said with a straight and motionless face. "She… She doesn't know anything" he did not want to do this again, especially not with Damon.

Damon gaped at him, unable to believe what he was hearing. He looked intently at him.

 _Caroline sobbed and uncovered her face, wiping her cheeks with her hands. She shook her head and swallowed._

 _"He doesn't remember me" she said, feeling the tears in her cheeks again. "He… He's forgotten me" she covered her face again, not knowing what else she should do or say. She wished she was not crying in front of Damon, but this was too much to take._

 _Damon gaped at her. He looked around, feeling lost._

 _"That… Valerie had to make it permanent" Damon gritted. "I'm going to kill her. I'm going to…"_

 _Damon closed his mouth at seeing that Caroline could not stop sobbing, her shoulders shaking. He huffed in frustration and put, after hesitating a bit, one hand on her shoulder to soothe her._

 _"We'll find a solution, we'll fix this" he said, not very convinced. Caroline sniffed, raised her head and shook it, without looking at him.  
_ _"I have to go" she said weakly.  
_ _"What?"  
_ _"I can't be here, I…" Caroline put her hair behind her ear with a shaking hand. "I can't do this."_

 _Caroline walked past him to head to the stairs but Damon grabbed her arm. Caroline closed her eyes patiently._

 _"Damon, please" she begged.  
_ _"You said you wouldn't give up on him. You said you'd help him remember."_

 _Caroline stared at the ground for some seconds. She was not sobbing anymore, but tears could not stop falling from her eyes, silently. She looked up at him and Damon was able to see the same look she had had for months after Stefan left._

"Are you really doing this?" Damon asked. "After everything, after-"  
"What don't you understand, Damon?" Stefan replied with a harsh tone as well, looking at him. Damon closed his mouth.  
"We'll find a solution, we'll fix it" he said.  
"How, Damon? How are we supposed to-"  
"I told you, you should just-"  
"I'm not going to reveal the truth to her, and I'm not going to force her to put that ring on just because I want her to. Don't you get it? I can't force Caroline to do something against her will."  
"It's not her choice, Stefan!"  
"Maybe it's not, because she doesn't know there's a choice. But it's not fair to impose an old life to her when she forgot about such life years ago. She has a new life, and I don't have any right to ignore that life. She's happy, she-"  
"She's happy because she's with you, you idiot."  
"I can't lie to her, Damon! It's like I'm taking advantage of her!"

They exchanged a look in silence and then Damon looked down. Stefan sighed and walked past him but Damon grabbed his arm.

"Stefan" he said. "Don't, don't do this again" Damon looked into his eyes and Stefan clenched his jaw. "You can't give up now."  
"She deserves better than me" Stefan gritted his teeth. "She deserves to be happy, she doesn't deserve to be lied."  
"Listen to me" Damon grabbed his shoulders. "At first I thought your story was repeating itself, you two meeting and all of that. But now I know why Caroline and you came back, okay?" Damon raised his eyebrows at him and Stefan looked down. "It's not because the story had to happen again, you two came back to change it this time. And if you do this again, if you leave her, you'll be doing exactly the same thing you did years ago."

Stefan glared at him. He was angry, mad, because he knew Damon was right and saying what he also thought. He was mad at his brother too, though, because he did not understand that he had no choice. It was not fair to Caroline.

"I can't lie to her" Stefan repeated. "And I can't be with her, at least until she's ready or remembers something. And I've tried really hard, and she didn't."

Damon was the one to glare this time. Stefan headed to the stairs and Damon closed his fists.

"Stefan" Damon turned to him and called him one last time. Stefan swallowed and looked at him.  
"I'm going to see her, say goodbye to her. I need to leave, let her live her life" he looked down. "I know this is ironic, but-"  
"Hah" Damon said, knowing what his brother was about to say.  
"Take care of her" Stefan said.

They looked at each other, remembering a similar situation, in another life.

"Since we're talking about irony, let me tell you something, let me tell you what I told you years ago" Damon gave a step towards him but then stopped. Stefan looked away. "If you go, if you do this, I don't think she'll forgive you this time. You get that?"

 _"Stefan" he said, knowing that he needed to stop him.  
_ _"Just keep an eye on her, take care of her, until she moves on" Stefan said, looking away from the picture with a sparkle in his eyes.  
_ _"Stefan, if you go, if you leave her" Damon said, giving another step forward. "I don't know if she'll be able to forgive you if you come back, someday. You understand that?"_

 _Stefan looked up at his brother with an exhausted face._

 _"I know" he said before walking away, leaving the door open, and Damon alone._

Stefan looked up at him.

"You know my answer already, Damon."

* * *

 _The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. Maybe they always have been and will be. Maybe we've lived a thousand lives before this one and in each of them we've found each other. And maybe each time, we've been forced apart for the same reasons. That means that this goodbye is both a goodbye for the past ten thousand years and a prelude to what will come.  
Nicholas Sparks._

She practically ran towards the door when she heard the bell ring. Caroline opened it and looked at him, standing there with a backpack in his shoulder. Her smile vanished slowly and he stared at the shirt she was wearing, it was the one he had given to her not only years ago, but also a month ago. He hated himself.

Caroline knew something was wrong, because he just stood still and lowered his gaze.

"Hey" she said, trying to smile. "I've been calling you, I…"  
"Yeah, I know" he said weakly. "I've been busy, sorry."

Caroline swallowed, realizing that Stefan was trying very hard not to make visual contact with her again. He opened his hand and showed her the ring for a second before handing it to her. She took it, confused.

"I think you should have it" he said. Caroline looked into his eyes.  
"Why?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but he remained silent. Caroline gave him a questioning look.

"Stefan?" she asked in a whisper. "Are you…" she cleared her throat. "Are you going somewhere?" she pointed at the backpack.

He looked away to avoid her gaze.

"Stefan?" she repeated.  
"There's something I have to do, I don't know for how long I'll be away, so…"

And those words and the fact that he was giving her the ring back were enough for her to understand that he was leaving her.

"Stefan, please" she begged, giving a step forward and cupping his neck with her hand. She could not let him leave. She had a feeling this was her fault. He looked away. "Let's talk about it. What's wrong? We were fine, we-"  
"It's not your fault" he said, pulling her hand away gently. "It's-"  
"It's not you, it's me?" Caroline asked with disdain. She started to tear up.  
"Actually, yes" he said. "There are some things going on and I need a break."

She looked at him, shocked.

"Well, okay" she cleared her throat and tried to contain the tears in her eyes. "You want to leave. I'll go with you, then."

Stefan looked at her in silence for a few seconds, a lump forming in his throat.

"You can't come."  
"But, why?" she asked with a sad and weak laugh. "We've left before. We went to New York and to Redmond together, we-"  
"Caroline, I don't want you to come with me."

She closed her mouth at hearing that, her heart beating very fast, her hands getting cold and shaking.

"It's better this way."

His words seemed distant, like an echo. She could hear the beat of her own heart in her ears.

"You're leaving, breaking up with me, and you say that it's better this day?" she asked incredulously. A tear fell down her cheek and Stefan held his breath in his throat at seeing her cry.  
"I'm sorry, I…"  
"I don't believe you, Stefan" she sobbed. "Please, just talk to me. Don't this, I can fix it, I'm sure I can fix it."

Caroline cupped his neck again and Stefan tensed.

"I'm sorry" he repeated, moving away from her slightly.  
"Stefan" she said with shaky, imploring voice.

He shook his head, looking down. She could not help but burst into tears in front of him and Stefan felt as if someone had kicked his stomach. He wanted to reach her cheek and wipe her tears, stroke her skin and hug her tightly. He wanted to stop restraining his own tears and emotions. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was. He wanted her to hate him.

"I hate you" she managed to say, shrinking. Stefan froze. "I hate you, I wish I had never met you."

Stefan took a step towards her involuntarily, his eyes teary.

"I hate you" she shoved his shoulder, crying. He tried to grab her wrists, do something, but he kept hitting his chest. "I hope you never come back."

She pushed him, one last time, out of the hall, sobbing and crying nonstop, and she closed the door in his face. Caroline turned around to lean her back against the door as she fell to the ground slowly, covering her face with her hands.

Stefan stood still in front of the door for several minutes, his hands closed in fists, and his own faced soaked with his tears.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER XI**

 _He left, and I broke apart._

 _June_

She did not even know how she had managed to pass her exams. It probably had been thanks to Marien, always there for her to help her study even though her mind was distracted most of the time.

Caroline looked down at her hand, watching the ring on her finger. She had not been capable to remove it. She kept it with her everywhere.

"Earth to Caroline" Alex said, sitting beside her on the bench of the porch.

She looked up, startled. Her friend was watching her carefully, clearly worried.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Have you heard from Stefan?"  
"Uh, yeah" Caroline said, placing a lock of her hair behind her ear. "He called me last night" she lied. "He's still in New York."

Alex nodded slowly, looking at Caroline from the corner of her eye. Caroline brought the cup of coffee to her lips, trying to hide her discomfort and sadness. She had not been able to tell the truth to Alex either. She felt that if she said it aloud, Stefan leaving her would become even more real. She was not ready to tell the world.

"It's Anna's birthday this weekend, and I was thinking that we could, I don't know, organize a surprise party for her. And since you're so good at it…"  
"I can't, Alex" Caroline said with a wince. Alex frowned at her. "I mean, I don't think I'll be able to. I haven't felt very well lately, honestly."

Alex nodded without saying anything. Caroline looked down at her hand again, trying not to break down again.

* * *

Caroline looked at the time on the screen of her phone for the third time that night. 3.30am, and she had not been able to fall asleep yet. It was not surprising, though. She had gotten used to it in the last few weeks.

She left the phone on the bedside table and shut her eyes tightly, curling up under the sheets and burying her face against the pillow. She felt as if she was suffocating.

"It's okay, I'm okay" she said to herself in a whisper, hugging herself with her arms.

 _How can you think I'm anything but hopelessly in love with you? I love you. I'm completely and utterly in love with you._

Caroline shook her head without opening her eyes.

"You lied" she said with a lump in her throat.

She hid her head under the sheets and everything went dark.

* * *

 _July_

It had become a habit, going to the woods to spend afternoons there, sitting on the ground with her back against a tree.

There was a reason why she went there, though. She needed that time for herself, without having to hear Marien telling her to stop wander around with such pale face. And she always carried that book with her, _Norwegian Wood_ , to read and reread those underlined sentences.

She brushed her fingertips against the page.

 _Stefan looked at her in awe and dropped his head on the pillow._

 _"Well, read me one. Your favourite one until now. One that reminds you of someone or one that is special to you" he said._

 _Caroline looked away from the book to look at him. He was giving her one of those soft tender smiles that melted her heart. She sighed and started to turn the pages._

 _"Let me find it…" she frowned as she looked for it until she found the sentence, one that was already underlined. "What about this one, I want you to always remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?"_

 _Stefan smiled softly and looked down. He then started to chuckle and she looked at him with a frown._

 _"What?" she asked.  
_ _"It's one of my favourites too" he said. "And, for the record, I'd never be able to forget you. I think I'll always remember you."_

 _Caroline looked into his eyes and he smiled sweetly, bringing his face close to hers until he brushed her cheek with his lips. She closed her eyes and held her breathing._

 _"Why?" she asked in a whisper. He pulled his face away and they exchanged a look. He shook his head and shrugged.  
_ _"Because you're such an inspiration, Caroline" he smiled softly and she could not help but smile as well. "Because you've brought me back to life."_

She closed her eyes tightly, closing the book and pulling it against her chest. She bit her lower lip, trying to stop the memories somehow.

Caroline opened her eyes and looked ahead quickly when she heard the sound of twigs being trampled.

"Marien?" she asked. It had not been the first time that her aunt had followed her to tell her to go home. "Is that you?" she rose to her feet, looking around.

 _"Everything goes as it should, I guess" she mumbled, staring at Liz's name engraved on stone. "I miss you."_

 _She frowned and looked away to the crypt where Elena was resting, and then looked down at her hands, watching her daylight ring. She touched the little blue stone with her fingertips thoughtfully, and wondered how much it would hurt, if it would be quick, or if…_

 _She looked up quickly when she saw a shadow slipping fast through the trees. That speed was not typical for any human._

 _"Damon, if that's you and…"_

 _The moving shadow caused a gust of wind, but this time behind her. Maybe she was imagining it. Or maybe peace had not lasted long after the departure of the heretics and a new danger threatened them._

 _She rose and walked among the trees, looking around carefully so that she would not miss anything. Stefan looked at her, hiding behind a tree, dying to walk over to her and take her hand, to tell her that he loved her, that he missed her more than anything in the world._

Caroline stepped forward, walking among the trees and looking around to see if there was somebody else there. She passed a gravestone on which the initials S.S. were written and then stopped suddenly, a cold feeling running through her whole body.

She looked at the two gravestones over her shoulder with a frown and a familiar feeling.

"Caroline."

Caroline turned to Marien fast, putting a hand against her own chest.

"You scared me" she said.  
"Let's go home" Marien wrapped her shoulders with an arm and led her home.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Marien asked her one night, watching her packing a lot of things in a box.  
"I need to get rid of everything" she said with a blank, lost stare, putting the helmet, the snowglobe, the shirt in the box. "I can't stand all the memories."

Marien looked sadly at her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Caroline…" she started.  
"No" Caroline said without looking at her, dropping a frame of a picture of them in the box. "I know what you're going to tell me, okay? I know you think I'm being immature, and that it's the first time I fall in love and that's why it hurts so, so bad. So much that I can't" her voice started to shake. "I can't even breathe."

She sobbed as the tears fell down her cheeks. Marien sighed and wrapped her arms around her to hug her tightly, caressing her hair.

Caroline rang the bell of the Salvatore house the next day. When Elena opened the door, she smiled instantly.

"Caroline" she said with tender voice.  
"Hey" Caroline smiled a little, looking down.

Elena looked at the box and realized what she was doing there.

"Oh" she said, sadly.  
"Yeah" Caroline nodded, handing the box to her. "I just… Those are Stefan's things, I thought I should give them back to him, but since he's MIA, well…"

Elena looked at Caroline, wanting to hug her friend.

"It's like he's disappeared into the air" she said with a sad laugh. Elena bit the inside of her cheek.  
"Do you want to… come in? Have dinner with us" Elena said. Caroline shook her head.  
"I'd love to, but… My aunt is waiting for me, so."

Elena nodded and Caroline waved her hand at her before turning around. Elena looked at the box and sighed. Damon walked out the kitchen and looked at her.

"What's that?"  
"Stefan's stuff" Elena said. "Caroline brought it. I hate this situation, Damon. I want my best friend back, and I'm not saying that we should do anything, but I just want her to spend time with us, be here, like old times."

Damon took a glance at the content of the box.

"Caroline brought it?" he headed to the door. "Maybe we can still-"  
"Damon" Elena warned him and he stopped, snorting.  
"What?"  
"Don't. Whatever you're thinking, don't do it."

Damon raised an eyebrow at her.

"I know what you want to do, and the answer is no" Elena put the box in his hands and after giving him a look of warning, she headed to the kitchen.

He gritted his teeth and walked towards the stairs.

"I can't believe we're going through this crap again" he said under his breath, placing the box on Stefan's desk before sitting on the bed.

Damon looked around and glanced at all the journals that Stefan had brought from the Forbes's house. He took a look on the dates of each one of them until he grabbed one.

 _I remember, and I wish I could not forget, the moment in which I realized once again, that the wait was worthy. That she would always be worthy. Because when she said that I made her happy, I knew again that she was the one. I knew that I would not mind spending my whole eternity by her side, that I did not care about being a vampire anymore if that meant being with her forever. She saved me, in every way, in every sense someone can save a person. And I need to write it because I need to remember it, and know that she appeared just when I needed her. Being there, showing me that loving and being loved is not impossible, or hard, or bitter. She gave meaning to everything. She was the calm in my storm, despite putting my world upside down. I know that no one, ever, will be able to make me happy as she did. Caroline, you are indispensable._

"Huh" Damon looked up, remembering the day that he read that exact piece of text years ago. Right before he went to Caroline's to tell her that she should give the new Stefan, the Stefan without memories, a chance.

Maybe it was worth trying one last time.

* * *

 _August_

Caroline opened her eyes wide and sat up on the bed, breathing hard. She looked around, her eyes getting used to the darkness of the bedroom and the night. The ring on her finger gleamed and she cringed, feeling as if the jewel was there to always make her remember him.

 _"No, not again" she whispered, trying to calm down. She put her head between her knees and wrapped her legs with her arms, closing her eyes tightly. "Why did you lie, why…?"_

 _She opened her eyes and the silence of the night overwhelmed her. She looked at the bedside table, lit by the moonlight that filtered between the curtains. Damon had written down Stefan's new phone number below Daniel's message._

 _She took the note and her phone with a knot in her stomach and dialed the number without really knowing what she was doing. It was 4.30 in the morning._

 _One pip, another one, and then someone got the call, but did not say anything._

 _"Stefan?" she asked in a whisper._

She swallowed hard; her throat was completely dry. She wiped the sweat of her forehead with the back of her hand and her eyes landed on her phone. The silence of the night filled her ears, making her feel very small.

Caroline took her phone nerve-rackingly and found his name in the contact list. When she placed the phone against her ear, she started to touch the hem of her shorts anxiously, her stomach spinning.

One pip, another, and the remaining ones, until she heard his voice in his voicemail. She cringed a little at the sound of it.

"Hey, it's me" she said after clearing her throat. "I… I just" she swallowed, trying to restrain the tears and making a big effort to not let her voice sound so shaky and weak. "I guess I just wanted to hear your voice" she let out a fake laugh. "I know it's been months but… You know, sometimes it's hard for me to remember if you were actually real or not. You just left, you're gone" she shuddered, her voice becoming weak. She could not help the sob that came out from her throat. "Why?" she asked and sniffed. "Why did you leave? I can't stand the thought of losing you. And I know that I already did but I don't want to adm-"

Another pip marked the end of the voicemail. Caroline dropped the phone on her lap and covered her face with her hands.

* * *

Damon saw her sitting on one of the steps of her porch. She was reading a book and he thought that there were some things that never changed. He walked towards her with another book in his hand too, until he stood in front of her.

Caroline looked up from the book and opened her mouth.

"Caroline Forbes" Damon said with a grin. "How's my favorite blonde doing?"

She rolled her eyes and looked at her book again, letting out a sigh. Damon sat next to her.

"I'm not in the mood for the jokes" Caroline said, remembering all the times Damon had joked around every time he had caught her slipping out of Stefan's bedroom in the morning.  
"Hmm" he smirked and nudged her. "Actually, you're right. Not the time for jokes. I'm here for something much more important."

Caroline stopped reading but kept her eyes on the page.

"You know? I really, really thought about doing this or not doing this, but then I remembered something. I remembered my old me" Damon grinned and Caroline looked at him with a frown. "Yup, if I didn't listen to Stefan the first, the second, and the third time, why would I listen to him now?"  
"Uh… What are you talking about?"  
"I'm talking about the fact that I'm the solution, the X of this equation. This is what Bonnie wanted me to do."

She gave him a questioning look and he clapped his hands.

"Okay, let's do this. So" he cleared his throat, getting ready. "Why do you think Stefan left?"

Caroline froze at hearing his name.

"I don't want to talk about this."  
"Oh, no. Sorry, but you're going to. I won't leave."

She gaped at him, looking at him incredulously.

"He left because he's a dick" she said.  
"Definitely, he is. But don't you think it's weird that he left so randomly, without any real explanation?"

Caroline did not know what to say to that.

"You want to know what's not weird?" he asked, snatching the book from her hands. She frowned. "The fact that you're reading this book, again. Let me see… _I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning_. Hilarious, actually. Remember when you underlined this? Yeah."

She looked very confused at him.

"Remember our trip to Redmond? Phew, that was a stressful one. You almost got us killed, but-"  
"Uh, sorry, but-"  
"And what about the day we got rid of Valerie. _Fangtastic_ , right? Did you notice what I did there?"

Caroline frowned and pursed her lips, thinking that he had either gotten drunk or lost his mind.

"Blondie, blondie, blondie" he said with a sigh. Caroline thought it was weird to hear him call her that, but at the same time, it felt familiar, as though she had heard that nickname a million times before. "Isn't it weird that my brother's name is Stefan?"

She widened her eyes and looked at him, still.

 _Damon looked at him with tightened jaw. He seemed to be having a mental dilemma, torn between opening his mouth and telling the truth, regardless of the consequences that it would entail, or remaining quiet._

 _"Don't you find it a bit weird?" he snapped, unable to contain himself. Stefan frowned and looked at him with a questioning look. "Isn't it strange that you have this kind of… strange connection with her? Isn't it strange that without knowing her at all, you feel that something pushes you towards her, that you should be with her? That she makes you happy just spending time with her? That you want to be around her all the time? That she's the only one who is able to calm you when your ripper side shows up? Damn it, Stefan, think!"_

"Isn't it even weirder that the name of the woman he loved is Caroline? You know, isn't that one your name too?"

Damon squinted at her with a grin and she felt how her heart started to beat fast.

"What about the fact that there's a book written about them, and that they" he took something from the pocket of his jacket and showed it to her "look exactly like you two?"

Caroline swallowed, staring at the torn photo of Stefan on the porch at that cabin.

"He does, but we don't know about her" she said with a lump in her throat.  
"Oh, please" he said, shaking his head and putting the photo back in its pocket. "I wonder who has the other half. I'd be surprised if you haven't found it yet. Guess Bonnie left clues everywhere."

Damon gave her a questioning look with narrow eyes and she looked down, nervous.

"So you have the other half. And you've known for a while that something's up."

Caroline looked away. Damon sighed.

"You know, it's very exhausting to be your personal Cupid for so many years" he said. She glared at him and he shrugged. "It's about time you two fix your things on your own. I'm… old for this" he winked at her. "If you know what I mean."

She shook her head fast, trying to reject the idea.

"No, no."  
"No? Hah!" he took her hand to show the ring to her. "You know what's even funnier than everything I've told you already, Carebear?" he asked. She looked intently at him. "The fact that you even have the damn ring with which my brother was going to ask you to marry him."  
"It's… No, it's impossible."  
"Impossible" Damon repeated, releasing her hand. "You know what else is impossible? The fact that I've been in this world for so long."

She looked at him in silence, her suspicions being verified once and for all.

"And wanna know something? You've been too."

Her face got pale and her throat went dry. She swallowed hard and looked at the ring in her hand.

"And I think, deep down, you've known or suspected all of this for a while."

Caroline's eyes sparkled and got teary.

"I'm scared" she said in a whisper. Damon got serious for the first time and nodded.  
"That's totally… normal" he said. "But remember what I told you in the store once?"

She nodded, looking down.

"I'll be selfish all the times I need to, I'll always spit out all the truth even if Stefan doesn't want me to, if it means that he's happy. Because it's my second chance to fix it. And we know who makes him happy."

Caroline ran a hand over her face and sighed.

"It's crazy" she said.  
"It is. But, honestly, blondie. How could you be so dumb to think that he didn't want to be with you? In which world?!"

Caroline looked at him.

"He was trying to be the hero, always the hero" he rolled his eyes. "The question is, do you want to be with him?"  
"Yes" she replied without thinking twice. Damon smirked.  
"Even if that means finding out a lot of things, the things you're scared about."

Caroline hesitated for a second, but then she nodded.

"Yes."  
"I knew you'd say that" he wiggled his eyebrows with a grin. "You never disappoint me. You never did."

They exchanged a look and he nodded with a smile.

"So" he handed the book he had brought with him to her. Caroline looked at the cover. It was the story of the lovers of the cemetery. "I wish I hadn't hidden all of these" he bit the inside of his cheek and she could not help but laugh a little. "And, here" he pulled another thing out of his pocket, took her hand, and placed it on her palm.

Caroline looked at the blue ring.

"It's a gift, kind of" he said. "I was supposed to keep it, but I think you're ready to have it now."

Damon looked at the ring, nostalgic, and Caroline put it inside the pocket of her jeans.

"Yup" he said, rising to his feet.  
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Caroline asked, waving the book. "I've already read it."  
"Hmm" he folded his arms. "I think you should read the last chapter. It'll probably help you to clear some things up. Don't forget the ring."

He started walking away and she opened the book to read the last chapter. _Caroline's death_.

* * *

Reading the last chapter of the book was enough for her to know where she had to go. It was a feeling, as if her heart knew.

Her feet walked on the twigs, leading her to the place about which she had read. The place that had looked so familiar to her in the woods. She stopped in front of the gravestone and stared at the S.S. initials.

 _"Where do you think that she-"  
_ _"I have a slight idea" Damon said, pouring a glass to himself. "The cemetery."_

 _Bonnie nodded with a frown._

 _"She told me something some time ago… I think she had this hope that she'd meet him again, somehow."_

 _Damon laughed, not being able to stop himself._

 _"Yeah, well" he said, leading the glass to his lips. "We already know how this works. The other side doesn't exist. You said it yourself."  
_ _"Yes, I did" Bonnie said, looking at the rings with a frown, thoughtful. "The other side doesn't exist."_

 _They remained silent for a few seconds, and Damon realized how Bonnie seemed to be staring at the rings intently._

 _"Bon" he said, but she did not answer. Damon snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Bon!"_

 _She woke up from her reverie and looked at him, startled._

 _"You okay?" he asked. Bonnie cleared her throat and let the rings drop inside the jewelry box.  
_ _"Yeah" she said. "It's just that I'd have liked to do something for her. For the last time."_

Caroline took the ring and stared intently at it. She was tired, tired of sensing all those things that seemed so familiar and not understanding why. She just wanted to know the truth, know both sides of the story –if there was another one-, and then, having several options, choose the one she wanted. Because, how could she take a decision if she did not know what she was dealing with?

Caroline swallowed as she put the ring on her index finger. She moved her fingers, with her hand at the level of her face, and waited. But nothing happened, and she let her hand drop to her side with a sigh.

But then, when she looked at the gravestone again, it made sense. She knelt on the ground, just in front of it, and placed her hand against the stone. Caroline's heart raced and she held her breath, her eyes closing like a reflex.

 _"Well, okay, you want to go with them. I'll go with you."  
_ _"Caroline…" he looked away again. "You can't come."  
_ _"I'll be fine, okay? I'll behave if it's necessary, I'll try to-"  
_ _"Caroline, I don't want you to come with me."_

 _"He told me that he needed to start again and give her a try… Lily."  
_ _"Why did you let him go?" she said with a hint of anger and frustration in her voice. Caroline did not want to fight again, not after he had offered to help at home, but she could not help feeling resentment against him.  
_ _"Because he didn't let me stop him" Damon hissed._

 _"Stefan" she said in a whisper._

 _Stefan took a step toward the three steps of the porch, but he stopped when he heard footsteps approaching behind him. He was completely frozen and glanced at Damon, shaking his head. Caroline saw it too._

 _"No" she mumbled. "No, no…"_

 _Damon grabbed Caroline tightly and sped away with her, again hiding behind the bushes._

 _"No, Damon, we have to… Damon, don't you dare…!"_

 _Damon grabbed the box and dropped it on her bed. Caroline looked at him, much to her dismay._

 _"What's that?" she asked with a harsh tone.  
_ _"Start with the first one. Don't read the others if… you haven't read the first one, okay?"_

 _Caroline opened the box and saw all the journals, marked with dates. Dates that began the year Stefan had returned to Mystic Falls. He took the oldest, the first one, and opened it to the first page._

 _Caroline pressed her lips against his, giving him a slow, simple kiss. She opened her eyes and saw that Stefan was already staring at her._

 _"And what will happen once I forget also about that?" he asked her.  
_ _"I'll give you another" she said, placing her hands on both sides of his neck to give him another peak. Stefan closed his eyes tightly, enjoying the touch of her lips. It had been years without her, without her kisses. He licked his lips, trying to mark the taste of her mouth on his skin, and she opened her sparkly eyes.  
_ _"Caroline… No, don't…"  
_ _"Stefan, please" she begged._

 _Stefan looked at her for a few seconds, but then looked away, trying very hard not to let go. Caroline grabbed his chin to make him look at her again and although Stefan tried to avoid her gaze, he finally looked at her and gulped._

 _"Look at me and tell me you don't want to come back, with me" she said.  
_ _"How wouldn't I want to be with you?" he asked her. "Did you read my journals?"  
_ _"Then, come with me" she squeezed his shirt tightly helplessly "I will remember for both of us."_

 _"Who…?"_

 _Caroline raised her eyebrows questioningly, still smiling._

 _"Who are you?"_

 _Her smile became blurred slowly as she felt how her stomach twisted._

 _Stefan groaned, trying to shake Damon off._

 _"Blondie?!" Damon insisted. Caroline reacted and walked towards him.  
_ _"Stefan, hey…" Caroline put her hand on his arm but he ignored her. He had his eyes on the boy. Until Caroline took his hand. "Stefan."_

 _It was like a reflex. As soon as he felt her delicate little hand holding his, he turned to her, completely forgetting the smell of blood, the bloodlust. Caroline stared into his eyes as Damon compelled the guys to forget and continue drinking and enjoying the party._

 _"Listen to my voice, okay?" she said tenderly, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb. Stefan stared at her, watching her lips._

 _"How could anyone forget someone like you?"_

 _They looked at each other for a few seconds that seemed eternal for her. She felt how her heart started beating fast when his gaze landed on her lips as he stroked her hand with his thumb. Stefan was bringing his face close to hers slowly, and he gulped. Caroline could not help but lift her other hand to place it against his chest and grip his shirt, to which he replied with a little smile, closing his eyes, and finally brushing her lips._

 _Caroline looked at the house, unable to hear anything. She had her ears blocked. Valerie walked out of the house and after looking around for a few seconds, she saw them crouched beside the car, some meters away. She looked at Caroline, who felt how her heart began to race. Valerie smiled, touched her necklace, and disappeared._

 _Caroline stood up slowly, staring at the open door of the house._

 _"Stefan" she said, this time louder. "Stefan" Caroline shook him, rustling his chest. "Stop playing. Wake up."_

 _Bonnie looked away, covering her mouth. Damon was still looking at his brother, with his eyes fixed on his face._

 _"Stefan" Caroline gave him a little hit in the chest. "Stefan!" she cried this time with wide eyes and a knot in her throat. She grabbed the neck of his shirt, shaking him with strength. "I said wake up!"_

 _Caroline started to punch his chest furiously as the tears streamed down her cheeks and she cried uncontrollably, sobbing while crying his name out in a heartbreaking way._

 _"Damon" Bonnie begged. But Damon could not move. He felt that no part of his body was able to respond.  
_ _"Wake up!" Caroline yelled to Stefan. "Wake up or I swear I'll never forgive you for this!" she grabbed his face with her hands and started to pat his cheeks. "Stefan, hey, Stefan, open your eyes" she said now, begging._

 _Caroline waited in silence for a few seconds, but getting no answer, she punched his chest hard again as she let out cries of rage._

 _"I hate you!" she shouted to his lifeless body. "I hate you, do you hear me?!"  
_ _"Damon" Bonnie repeated._

 _Damon reacted and walked towards Caroline without saying a word. He grabbed her waist from behind to pull her away from Stefan's body._

 _"No! Let me go!" Caroline cried, trying to resist.  
_ _"He's dead, Caroline" Damon said with weak voice. Bonnie watched them, scared of seeing Caroline in that state, and not knowing what to do.  
_ _"No!" she yelled before bursting into tears and letting herself drop, feeling weak. "No, please, no" Damon grabbed her as he could at seeing how her body did not have the strength to stand. She was shaking because of her constant crying, and he guided her towards the door._

 _She felt his lips against her cheek to give her a soft kiss, and when he threw his head back, she opened her eyes, smiling as a tear fell down on the exact spot where he had kissed her. Stefan looked tenderly at her, with that look that expressed how much he adored her, and wiped the tear with his thumb quickly._

 _"Don't cry" he said in a whisper. "It won't take much longer. We're almost there."_

 _Caroline stopped in front of her and looked into her eyes._

 _"Do you remember me?" she asked, emotionless._

 _Valerie tried to scream, to get rid of Damon's grip in vain. As much as she grabbed his arm to try to pull it away from her neck, it was impossible. Caroline grabbed her chin to make her stay still._

 _"Do you remember?" Caroline repeated, her eyes darkening._

 _Valerie looked at her for a few seconds, motionless, until she nodded slightly._

 _"Good."_

 _Caroline left the pen on the desk and folded the paper. She looked at the jewelry box and smiled softly, the physical and psychological exhaustion reflected on her face._

 _She opened the book and took Stefan's daylight with her finger carefully. Her heart jumped at seeing the little object, and she could not help but smile with teary eyes. She had thought that her heart would never show signs of life ever again._

 _Caroline brought the ring to her lips and she closed her eyes as the tears fell in silence. It still smelled like him._

 _"Almost there" she said in a whisper with shaky voice._

 _She went downstairs 5 minutes later, and she left the jewelry box on the small table of the living room. Caroline smiled at the bottle of bourbon as she placed the folded piece of paper under the box._

 _She took a deep breath and looked at Stefan's daylight ring again, inside the box. She swallowed and removed her daylight ring, her engagement ring already on her finger. She let it drop on the jewelry box and then closed it._

 _Caroline checked the time on the clock of the wall. 4.30am. She started to walk towards the door and grabbed the knob to open it. She watched the darkness of the night, the stars on the sky, the silence outside._

 _She looked over her shoulder, watching the fireplace, the chairs, the jewelry box, the note that she had written for Damon. She took a deep, shaky breath and closed the door behind her._

Caroline opened her eyes wide, her chest going up and down due to the heavy breathing. She stood up and started walking backwards, her eyes filling with tears, her heart beating fast.

Her back hit a tree and she covered her mouth with her hands, trying to control all the emotions threatening to come out. She dropped to the ground, remembering every single painful moment and memory.

"Oh my God" she said in a whisper, unable to restrain the tears anymore. "Oh my God" she sobbed and covered her mouth with a shaky hand.  
"It's okay" Marien said in a whisper, crouching down next to her and squeezing Caroline's shoulder with her hand in a comforting way. "I got you, I got you."

* * *

 _What had stirred in me was a part of my very self that had long lain dormant. And when the realization struck me, it aroused such sorrow I almost burst into tears.  
_ _Haruki Murakami._

Caroline turned on the lights, seeing everything clearly. She looked around like years ago, watching his bed, the books placed on the shelves, the boxes with all the journals.

She took a deep breath and wrapped herself with her arms, stroking them up and down.

 _"Is it over?" Damon asked, leaning against the door frame._

 _Caroline looked over her shoulder._

 _"Will you now be able to move on? To move forward?" he continued._

 _They exchanged a meaningful look._

 _"I think I will" she replied, nodding slightly._

 _Damon nodded too and looked around one last time before turning around. He stopped, however, before leaving. He grabbed the door frame and looked at Caroline. She looked back at him._

 _"Take care, blondie."_

Caroline smiled with a tender look and, sensing his presence, she turned around. Damon was leaning against the frame of the door with his arms folded, looking around.

"Are you, you?" he asked.  
"Yeah, I am me" she replied with a little smile.

He nodded with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Bonnie…" he started, but Caroline interrupted him.  
"I know, Marien told me" she said. "She… Bonnie, she's brilliant."  
"She's probably the most brilliant person I've ever met" he agreed. "You know, it has been boring without you around."

Caroline laughed with watery eyes, looking at him.

"Time to move forward" he said. Caroline smiled tenderly at the word play. "Time to get your happy ending. And give my brother his."

She nodded with a grateful look.

"I'm glad to see you again, Damon" she finally said. Damon looked at her for a few seconds before smiling.  
"You too, blondie."

Elena appeared suddenly at the door and looked at Caroline with wide eyes. Caroline could not help but start crying as she laughed, seeing her friend walk over to her to hug her tightly.

"You're back" Elena said, crying too. "You're back."

* * *

 _I will wait, I am waiting, and I will love you with all the love I possess until this body is ash and I begin my search for you again.  
_ _Tyler Knott Gregson_

Caroline got out of the car and looked at the façade of the cabin. As soon as she had gotten her memories back, she knew where he had stayed the past few months, and where he would still be.

She started walking over the porch.

 _Caroline walked among the trees as the silence filled her ears. The wind was moving the leaves and the bushes, and the stars were shining in the sky. She stopped when she reached her destination, still not used to the absence of her daylight ring._

Caroline put the key in the lock, but as soon as she did, she realized that the door was already open. She smiled and pushed it, and once she entered, she saw the bouquet of orchids on the table while hearing some noise in the kitchen.

 _She looked at the crypt where Elena was sleeping, and then at her mom's gravestone. Caroline smiled with nostalgia and swallowed to try to make the lump in her throat vanish._

 _And then her eyes landed on his gravestone. It was the first time that she saw it. She brushed her fingertips against the initials of his name and smiled sadly._

And then she knew, she was finally home.

 _Her lower lip trembled because of the amount of emotions inside of her, but she stood straight and took a deep breath. Caroline sat on the ground and leaned her back against his gravestone, closing her eyes._

Stefan looked at her from the kitchen, wiping his hands with a cloth.

"I was waiting for you" he said, walking over to her with a soft smile on his face.

Caroline smiled back at him and put her arms around his neck.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.  
"I was trying to protect you."

She gave him a tender smile with watery eyes and he leaned her forehead against hers.

"Do you have any regrets?" he asked. She shook her head.  
"No. Dying with you wasn't the worse way to go. Because you're here, with me, again. You and me…"

 _"…finally together" she said in a whisper, smiling with her eyes closed as she saw them in her mind. They were at the cabin, standing in the living room, his forehead against hers._

He pulled back and smiled at her, looking into her eyes with an intensity that made her heart jump.

"So… You remember me. You finally remember me" she said, letting out a weak laugh as the tears fell from her eyes.

 _Caroline felt the tears falling down her cheeks, but her little smile did not disappear for a second._

Stefan cupped her cheeks with his hands, caressing them as he looked tenderly at her. He leaned his forehead against hers again and sighed. Caroline's heart jumped again, more alive than ever. They had waited years for this moment, an eternity, a lifetime; they had looked for each other in the afterlife.

 _Caroline blinked several times and looked at her engagement ring. The sun started to rise and appear in the sky. She was ready; she was ready to go and find him again. The beams of light were about to caress her skin when her lips whispered her and his last words…_

"I never forgot you."

THE END.


End file.
